EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

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EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

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AS REFLECTED IN ITS LITERATURE

By DONALD WAYNE pDDLE

The University of Chicago

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WILLETT, CLARK & COMPANY

CHICAGO NEW YORK

1936

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Copyright 1936 by
WILLETT, CLARK & COMPANY

Manufactured in The U. S. A. by The Plimpton Press
Norwood, Mass.-La Porte, Ind.

320

To
ROBERT EMERY RIDDLE

MY SON

PREFACE

. his volume makes an approach to the historical study of
early Christianity which is new in that it relegates doctrine
and teaching as quite secondary, while it utilizes literature
as source for the study of early Christian life, rather than
as an end in itself. It does, indeed, make use of the frame-
work and sequence of early Christian literature. This is in
response to the judgment that it is necessary to illustrate in
practice what is deemed to be the proper method of using
literary sources: i.e., the social approach. It will be observed
as an essential principle that no difference is made between
New Testament and extra-New Testament sources; early
Christian literature arose from early Christian life, and
there is no distinction in kind between the sources which
are in the New Testament and those which do not have that
status. This study is based upon the conviction that the es-
sential feature in the growth of Christianity is the Christian
life. Detailed points in the study of the New Testament
and of the history of the early church must be built upon
this foundation.

In the author's view the most important contribution of
the present study is to be found in the picture of the types
of the religious life which are reconstructed from the study
of the gospels and the several pictures, so fascinating in
their contrasts, developed from the materials of the later
books of the New Testament and from contemporaneous

PREFACE

sources. It is a distinct need in modern study that the gospels
be interrogated vitally rather than mechanically; it is now
essential that their information of the life which produced
them be made available. Theories of source and of form
cannot be allowed to stop short of the discovery of the
processes of the growth of the gospel materials and of the
extremely human adventures and experiments in living
which they reflect. Likewise the secrets of the later sources
must be yielded by their study from the viewpoint of early
Christian life. This book is an attempt to explore what has
been discovered to be a rich field. It is hoped that it is
successful at least in suggesting the interest of the materials
and the value of the approach.

The author wishes to express his thanks to Mr. Harold H.
Hutson for assistance in proofreading. To his friend, Dr.
Martin Rist,' he is also indebted for reading the typescript
and for making valuable suggestions.

DONALD WAYNE RIDDLE
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
July 14, 1936

CONTENTS

PART ONE

BEFORE THE GOSPELS

I. BEGINNINGS i

II. THE PRIMITIVE PREACHING 6

III. PAUL 14

IV. THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 25
V. NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 63

PART TWO
THE GOSPEL-MAKING PERIOD

VI. THE GOSPELS 87

.VII. THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE OF THE GOSPEL-
MAKING PERIOD 112

PART THREE

AFTER THE GOSPELS

VIII. A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY 133

IX. " BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN " 144

X. THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS His CODE 154

XL THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 164

XII. EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 180

XIII. THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 195

XIV. MATURING CHRISTIANITY 217
INDEX 247

IX

PART ONE

BEFORE THE GOSPELS

BEGINNINGS

V_/hristianity began when certain followers of Jesus, and
others after them, had experiences which led them to believe
that the crucified Jesus was alive again. They were impelled
to talk about these experiences. In response to their stories,
little groups of people came to be associated together on the
basis of this common interest. Since they were characterized
by remarkable enthusiasm, fellowships based upon these be-
liefs and interests had quick growth.

The followers of Jesus were Jewish, as he was. It was
natural, then, that those who had these remarkable experi-
ences, and those who first heard their stories, were Jewish.
As judged by usual Jewish standards of their time and place
they seem to have been " peculiar " persons, for it was not
common for Jews of ancient Palestine to have such experi-
ences. Possibly they were unusual in other respects, also. 1

However, they seem to have been willing to tell their
stories to anyone who would listen. Thus others than Jews
heard them, and others than Jews believed them. This is
shown by the fact that when these matters came to the at-
tention of unsympathetic religious leaders the fellowships
had spread geographically, grown numerically, and become
inclusive of other racial groups.

This is a simple fact. But its consequence was of profound
importance. There were many peoples and many religions

2 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

in the world into which Christianity came. It is of the great-
est significance that early Christianity began within Judaism
but quickly became inclusive of non-Jews; that early in its
growth there were fellowships in the Jewish villages and
cities of Palestine and in the Hellenistic cities of Palestine and
of the wider Graeco-Roman world. The meaning of the
early currency of Christianity in Hellenistic centers is ap-
parent to anyone who regards the influence of environment
as important.

The next fact to be pointed out is even more arresting.
Since the early Christian leaders were accustomed to tell their
stories about Jesus to any who would listen, and since from
an early time those who heard and believed included Jews
and non-Jews, and since the stories were told in Jewish and
Hellenistic circles within and outside Palestine, a variety of
response occurred. It has been noted that Jewish people who
" saw " the risen Jesus may have been untypical Jews. While
most Jews at this time believed in life after death, and while
many believed that sometime God would raise people from
the dead, it was extraordinary for a Jew to believe that God
had recently raised one certain person from the dead. Of
course, it was easy for later Christians to explain how God
raised Jesus and caused him to appear to Peter and others.
Nevertheless it was unusual for a Jew of ancient Palestine to
have had the experiences attributed to Peter and others, and
difficult for Jews to believe the stories which were told.

On the other hand, non-Jews of the Hellenistic world were
very familiar with tales pf risen heroes. The religious lore
of the Hellenistic peoples had made them current. It was
but natural, then, that a readier response to the stories about
Jesus was made by non-Jews. Likewise, Hellenistic Jews

BEGINNINGS 3

were presumably more likely to listen and accept them than
were Jews of Palestine.

Further, some 2 members of the fellowships formed by the
believers were characterized by particular aspects of behavior.
"They acted upon the conviction that they had immediate
access to God, and that God inspired them and thus impelled
them to do marvelous things. Thus they came to be regarded
as " peculiar "; it was not long until their ways of living, as
well as their oft-repeated stories of Jesus, marked them as
different, and presently made them unpopular with many
of their neighbors.

On the other hand, these characteristics met with less hos-
tile reactions from others. Here, again, there was a differ-
ence between Palestinian Jews and Hellenists. Many of the
gentiles were used to such behavior, and regarded it as usual
in the religious life. Examples of the spiritistic behavior
then and later alleged of Christians were well known in the
Hellenistic religions. Doubtless this largely explains why
non-Jews early came into the fellowships, and why it was
not long until there were more non-Jews than Jews in them.
Again, this makes it understandable that fellowships were
early found beyond Galilee and Jerusalem and outside
Palestine.

It was inevitable that soon the question would be raised
whether the non-Jews in the fellowships must conform to
Jewish practices. It was important for the future of Chris-
tianity that this question was not raised until the number
and the proportion of non-Jews were considerable, and until
there were a number of fellowships in extra-Palestinian terri-
tories.

For when the question was raised the fellowships were

4 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

already racially inclusive. They had no racial or national
character. In so far as the religious life of the adherents was >/
characteristic it was thoroughly individual. The benefits con-
ferred by believing the stories about Jesus, or by belonging
to the fellowship, were all with reference to the individual.
This was basically different from Judaism; it was fundamen-
tal in Judaism that the whole people was the religious unit:
Israel was the Lord's people, and he was Lord of Israel. The
benefits of the Jewish religious life were likewise with refer-
ence to the group. It was impossible to belong to the Jewish
religion without belonging to the Jewish people this is
the essential significance of circumcision. But since the fel-
lowships of the stories of Jesus were racially inclusive, with-
out racial or national basis the stories told to all who would
hear, the benefits available to everyone who responded it
was but natural that in the spread of the fellowships their
inclusion of more non-Jews than Jews and their presence in
Hellenistic communities largely determined their character.

The next step in Christianity's growth was the aggressive
offer of its messages and its benefits to non-Jews in their
own localities. Probably the beginnings of this new depar-
ture were, so to speak, accidental, or at least adventitious. 3
Travelers or other migrants took their stories with them;
doubtless many of these were so enthusiastic that they spread
the good news wherever they went. The missionary char-
acter of early Christianity was inherent from the very earliest
times.

Local cults were, presumably, based upon the stories of
Jesus which had grown out of the primary experiences of
those who had "witnessed" Jesus' "resurrection." Not
every messenger had had the experience; the list of "ap-

BEGINNINGS 5

pearances" given by Paul (i Cor. 15:5-8) is an interesting
and an important datum, but these few dramatic experiences
were not the sole foundation of the quickly spreading fellow-
ships. Many a humble and obscure believer, although no
" appearance " had been vouchsafed him, had in his enthu-
siasm and in the power of the story which he had heard from
another and repeated in his own words enough to make
him an effective agent in spreading the good news. Both
the conspicuous leader and the humble follower were im-
portant in Christianity's growth; there is something infec-
tious in the religious experience of any person when it is
vital and when it is told with enthusiasm.

At all events, within a few years after the death of Jesus
there were societies of his followers not only in Palestine but
in many localities of the eastern and the northeastern Medi-
terranean shore. Several leaders had identified themselves
with the movement which was now well under way. Wide-
spread geographically, the cults were likewise inclusive of
people who had diverse racial or national origin and were
thoroughly individualistic in their religious lives. What was
to become Christianity was a lively, going movement, a sign
of whose life was a ready adaptability to the needs which
particular problems or specific situations presented. 4

II
THE PRIMITIVE PREACHING

JLhe primitive preaching * was that Jesus died for one's sins,
was raised by God from, among the dead, and was in heaven,
where he would remain until the time appointed by God for
the end of the age, when he would come as God's agent in
the consummation of the age and the inauguration of the
age to come.

It is evident that much of this had its origin in current
apocalyptic and Jewish Scripture. It is equally plain that
the general features correspond to the stories of dying and
rising savior-gods common throughout the Near East and
the Hellenistic world.

The evangelist uttered his message, full of conviction.
Some of his hearers "believed." They gave evidence of
their belief by uttering their "confession," e.g., "Jesus is
[my] Lord," or, " Jesus Christ is Lord." The believers tended
to congregate into little societies, so that " churches " 2 were
formed. Baptism was a usual rite of entrance, and another
sacrament, a communal meal in commemoration of the
Lord's death, was observed.

These things meant to the believer that he was " saved."
That is, his nature was changed or transformed: formerly
he was lost, now he was saved. A variety of content was
involved in these conceptions: one thought himself under
control of evil demonic powers, subject to illness, suffering

THE PRIMITIVE PREACHING 7

misfortune, destined to eternal punishment, by nature in-
capable of living rightly, rejected by the gods, and so forth.
By believing, and as he believed, his life which had been
under demonic control was now under the control of benign
and holy spirit, the man became a new creature. Formerly
fearful of what impended in the present life as well as in
the afterlife, he was now confident of the good issue of
present and future. Then, subject to disease, misfortune and
death, now he expected health, welfare and a blissful eternal
life.

Specific content differed among different people. Each
thought in terms of familiar religious conceptions. In one
case the dramatic representation of the mystery cult, in an-
other the cosmic involvements of Jewish apocalyptic, in
another theological interpretations of Jewish Scripture fur-
nished source and pattern by which words expressed par-
ticular meaning.

1 But there were certain constants, also: one believed, he
acknowledged belief in confession/ and he was assured that
thus he was " saved." It was usual for him to adhere to
others of like experience, thus through baptism becoming a
member of a church. To some extent he identified himself
with others of the group in particular cult practices and ways
of living.

The variables operated as different backgrounds obtained.
If the believer came from the background of the Serapis
cult, or with familiarity gained through initiation into the
Eleusinian mystery, or from the training which one had in
the complexities of the Roman religion, what he brought to
his new experience largely conditioned his understanding
of it. If he was a Jew his knowledge of Jewish lore, par-

8 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

ticularly of Scripture story, religious customs (e.g., dietary
practices, household rituals, or Sabbath observance) and his
customary moral code would likewise condition his appre-
hension of the new experience. Similarly, difference in con-
tent was occasioned by the location of believers and cults
in the several territories of the ancient world.

Constants and variables may alike be illustrated 3 by some
of Paul's observations. He mentions how the Thessalonians
had " turned to God from idols, to serve a true and living
God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised
from the dead: Jesus, who delivers us from the coming
wrath " (i Thess. 1:13). Obviously a number of these items
were intellectualized interpretations of Jewish Scripture. On
the other hand, the identification of Jesus as God's Son re-
ceived gentile interpretations by many of his hearers and
readers. Paul also drew upon Jewish apocalyptic expecta-
tions. He utilized, too, the familiar Jewish polemic against
idolatry, and Jewish teaching about God's nature. Again he
writes: "I delivered to you in the first place that which I
received, namely, that Christ died for our sins according
to the Scripture, and that he was buried, and that he was
raised on the third day, also according to the Scripture, and
that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then he ap-
peared to more than five hundred brothers at the same time
(of whom most still remain, although some are fallen
asleep); then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles;
last of all as to one born before his time he appeared to me."
Tradition and Jewish interpretation are both used here.

The primitive preaching, it appears, was extremely simple.
Adornment in detail, naturally leading to difference in con-
tent, was slight. It is also apparent that the messages were

THE PRIMITIVE PREACHING 9

generally similar to Graeco-Roman cult stories and to apoca-
lyptic messianism. The story readily lent itself to adapta-
tion along these two lines. It was a simple matter for one
to regard Jesus as a dying and rising savior-god, or for
another to find him to be the Anointed who was expected
to come on the clouds to bring into being the new heaven
and earth.

The consequence of belief was more important than its
content. It was of the greatest significance that believers
came to have particular experiences, so that more or less
characteristic ways of life developed in the religious groups.
When one remembers that the believers included all sorts of
people of divers localities, and that most 4 of them came into
the fellowships in response to thoroughly individualistic im-
pulses, it is remarkable that coherence and some working
unity were ever achieved.

It is usually difficult for the modern student to accommo-
date himself to the emphasis upon Jesus' death which was
made in the early preaching. But this he must do if he is
to see what was the secret of its success. Undoubtedly the
centrality of emphasis upon Jesus' death was due to the fact
that what became Christianity began with the "resurrec-
tion " experiences. It was fortunate for the movement that
the resurrection faith permitted obvious interpretations from
the differing patterns of Jewish apocalyptic and the Hellen-
istic salvation cults. The basic emphasis upon Jesus' death
- was thoroughly congenial in both. The hearer of the story
who was familiar with apocalyptic expectations naturally
laid little emphasis upon the Messiah's earthly career, if, in-
deed, the thought occurred to him. Enough for him that
Jesus had died and had been raised from among the dead

io EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

and was in heaven whence he would one day come in his
messianic capacity. Likewise the hearer who was familiar
with the stories told in the salvation cults took for granted
that the death, rather than the life, of the cult Lord was
-what effected salvation. In each case the central place ac-
corded the death in the story of Jesus was natural, both for
the teller and the hearer.

Emphasis upon Jesus' death in the primitive preaching
carried an inevitable consequence. To the Jews the cross
of Jesus was a stumbling block. Jesus had been executed as
a criminal, and it was difficult for Jews to permit the amaz-
ing story of his rising from the dead to outweigh the impor-
tance of this fact. That an executed criminal, especially a
crucified criminal, could be God's Anointed was extremely
difficult for Jews to believe. In spite of the fact that those
who had the " resurrection experiences " were Jews, in spite
of the fact that the majority of their first hearers were Jews,
it was exceptional for Jews to believe the stories. In spite
of the ease with which the stories could be fitted into the
schema of apocalyptic expectations, the response to the stories
from Jewish hearers was not as readily favorable as was the
response from non-Jews. The manner of Jesus* death was a
factor in the negative response.

Conversely, the very emphasis upon Jesus' death in the
preaching made it relatively easier for the non-Jew to en-
tertain and believe it. He lacked the abhorrence of cruci-
fixion which was a common Jewish attitude. The story of
a savior who had been put to death by tragic evil was so
familiar to him that the religious mind of the Hellenistic
people may almost be said to have been predisposed toward it.

It is of importance, further, that the practice of drawing

THE PRIMITIVE PREACHING n

upon Jewish Scripture to explain the story of Jesus led to
the use of the familiar Greek translation. While Palestinian
Jews did not use this translation, it must be remembered that
Christianity early became current outside Palestine, and that
the use of the Greek language in the primitive preaching
naturally led to the use of the Greek version.

Who were the early Christian preachers ? It is regrettable
that this question can be answered in only the sketchiest way.
Unless one contents oneself with the stories told in the early
chapters of the Acts section of Luke-Acts he is reduced to
the recital of the names supplied in the letters of Paul. One
must treat the traditions of the Acts section as critically as
it is necessary to treat the gospel section of Luke- Acts; the
former as well as the latter is properly to be used as a wit-
ness to the period of its writing rather than as a witness
to the period of its dramatic date. It is unnecessary to
doubt that some of those mentioned in these traditions were
historical persons, e.g., Barnabas. The correlation of Paul's
notices with the traditions of the Acts section may perhaps
be taken as a controlled statement: this would confirm state-
ments about Peter, Barnabas and Apollos as particularly
noteworthy. Paul particularly calls such persons as Timothy,
Titus and Silvanus to attention. The list of names in what
is now Romans 16 contains several whose bearers are cited
as workers part of whose task may have been preaching.
More names may be culled from the lists in his letters; in-
deed, the result of such a compilation is a fairly large num-
ber. A few seem to have been of some fame, as Androni-
cus and Junias, who are said to have been of note among
the apostles and " in Christ " before Paul. Some, as Prisca
and Aquila, and Philemon and Apphia, were also hosts and

12 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

hostesses of house-churches. The place of women among
these workers warrants attention.

But it would be a serious error to conclude that Paul's lists
include all, or nearly all, of the early preachers. There were
many who were outside Paul's circle. Who preached in
places not visited by Paul? Whose messages had assembled
the group in Damascus, all of whom were " in Christ " be-
fore Paul ? Who evangelized Ephesus ? Who first spoke in
Rome? Who told of Jesus in Alexandria? Epaphras is
said to have evangelized the Colossians. But naturally Paul's
references to those outside his circle are few; his cordial
statement about Apollos is quite exceptional. There can be
no doubt that there were many preachers who were not only
not associated with Paul, but whose work was conceived on
quite different lines. The spread of the Christian movement
in the few years which elapsed before Paul's advent is itself
proof that there were effective leaders whose work, rather
than whose names, was their memorial.

It is notable that among the leaders whose names have
been perpetuated, Jesus' closest followers figure only slightly.
Luke- Acts reports the tradition of the early death of James
ben Zebedee, says much about Peter, and contains a few
stories in which John figures. No other one of the so-called
Twelve is reported as a worker in the emerging movement.
To be sure, the Twelve is a sort of institution; its number
is made complete, and it is said to have remained in Jerusa-
lem during persecution, but, with the two exceptions noted,
deeds of note are not related of its members. On the other
hand, others, as James, Barnabas and Philip, not members
of the institution, are said to have done far more than any
member aside from Peter. Paul also mentions the Twelve,

THE PRIMITIVE PREACHING 13

saying nothing of its individual members except Cephas
and John. He, too, cites others as notable workers, e.g.,
Barnabas and Apollos, and mentions James with respect. It
must be concluded that the twelve were not as important
in the rise of Christianity as references to them in the gos-
pels would lead one to expect. Late tradition ascribes heroic
history to each one, but this was in the interest of hagiog-
raphy, and has nothing to do with Christian beginnings.

One should not, of course, expect abundant information
about the early Christian preachers. Their messages, not
their names, were important. They told their stories; the
realization of their purpose did not involve the establish-
ment of their personal fame. To recognize the phenomenal
success of their work, to appreciate the quick spread and
distribution of Christianity as a result of their preaching,
is adequate evidence that for the most part the stories of
Jesus found effective messengers in sufficient number to in-
sure the growth of Christianity.

Ill
PAUL

JLt is an interesting accident that only Paul is well known
among the early preachers. When the statements of Luke-
Acts are properly criticized they contribute but little con-
cerning his life and work, but the information to be gleaned
from his own letters is considerable. This is what distin-
guishes him from his contemporaries: there is a large and
a highly important precipitate of his labors in what he wrote;
there is no such witness to theirs.

Yet the stories about Paul in Luke-Acts and even the
data of his letters have led to misunderstanding and have
created problems. More abundant literary attestation has
warped the common perspective, and has led to the mistaken
judgment that Paul was not only the greatest exponent of
the primitive preaching, but that he was the founder of the
gentile mission. The former estimate is gratuitous, in view
of lack of information concerning others; the latter judg-
ment is plainly wrong. Abundant information about Paul
and lack of it about others has similarly caused the currency
of the erroneous notion that early Christianity, wherever
found, was the same as the religion of the Pauline com-
munities.

Paul was one of a fairly large number of exponents of
the story of Jesus. He was frank to credit others with the
distinctions and results due them. He observed that others

PAUL 15

were " in Christ " before him arid pointed out that others
were "energized" for work whose importance he would
have been the last to depreciate. When he differed from
other messengers he admitted their right to their work and
in certain cases related his work to theirs: Apollos watered
what he planted and God blessed the labors of both. He
recognized the propriety of an opponent's position: he was
entirely cordial to James, although he saw that his position
and James's were antithetical. When a difference between
himself and Cephas became acute he argued it, recognizing
Cephas' place in religious work.

Paul was not the founder of the policy of taking the story
of Jesus to non-Jews. The older impression probably re-
sults from reading the stories of Luke-Acts uncritically. A
careful study relieves it of the responsibility for this misap-
prehension. Luke-Acts tells that Paul came into contact
with members of the cult of Jesus some time after the in-
ception of the movement. Indeed, according to Luke-Acts,
Paul's activity as a " persecutor " was intended to be applied
in the region of Damascus the emerging Christian move-
ment had, then, reached so distant an outpost before Paul's
" conversion." In another narrative it is related that Paul
found disciples in Ephesus: the implication is obvious. To
the same effect is the datum that Paul found " brothers "
when he arrived in Rome; his letter corroborates the fact
that Christianity was in Rome independently of and before
him. Luke-Acts also implies * the currency of Christianity
in Alexandria: this, too, was independent of Paul.

Paul's letters also assume the existence of cults of Jesus
before and independent of his own work. The bearing of
his letter to Rome has been pointed out. The letter to the

16 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

Colossians, whether by Paul or not, was to a church not
founded by him. Indeed, Paul explicitly states that he
avoided " building upon the foundation which another had
laid." He refers to Peter's work with Jews, speaks of the
Jerusalem group, and more than once mentions the Judean
churches. Thus while it is a fortunate accident that primary
sources furnish a wealth of information about Paul's work,
it must not be assumed that his was the sole nor the major
work of the early days, nor that his achievements were nor-
mative for others.

Paul is the more interesting because he is an example of
those early Christian leaders who were Jewish. He was, to
be sure, one who lived outside Palestine, 2 and his Judaism
was affected by his contact with gentile culture, especially by
the influence of the Greek language. Yet Paul affirms that
his life was strictly Jewish, that he was brought up according
to strict Pharisaic standards, and that his life according to
this standard had been exemplary. With such modifica-
tions as were required by residence in the gentile locality
Paul was taught Jewish lore on the basis of Scripture and
Torah.

The apocalyptic element in Paul's religion raises questions.
Under the influence of R. H. Charles it used to be commonly
thought that the apocalypses represented typical Judaism. 3
But when the work of Herford, Abrahams, Dibelius and
Moore popularized information about legalistic Judaism 4
this view was challenged. Apocalyptic was shown to be
an eddy aside from the main stream of Judaism, which was
legalistic and similar to that which later was articulated in
the rabbinical writings.

Certainly Paul made important use of apocalyptic in his

PAUL 17

religious life and teaching. It greatly facilitated his identifi-
cation of Jesus as Anointed, and gave concrete form to his
beliefs about the sort of Anointed Jesus was (and was to be).
It centrally affected his world-view, doing much to formu-
late his judgments of the nature of the world and of its cos-
mic future. It led him to several detailed and specific judg-
ments, e.g., what might otherwise be considered as asceticism
was probably significant of his vivid expectation of the end
of the age; also, his judgment that marriage was imprac-
ticable. Apocalyptic influenced his attitude toward the State.

Was Paul as avidly apocalyptic in his earlier life as he was
after his experience of Jesus ? No answer to this is possible,
no guess has value. One may, however, remark that since
scholars have demonstrated the normative character of le-
galistic Judaism the apocalyptic element in Paul marks him
as untypical of Judaism in this respect. Difference from
Palestinian norms also obtained as a result of Paul's life in
the world of the dispersion Jew.

It must be remembered that Paul's references to his earlier
religious life are all made later and on the basis of his new
and revolutionary experience. It is impossible to take his
remarks about his former experience as purely objective.
For example, he once says that according to the standard of
Torah he was blameless. But on another occasion he reports
a case typically as though it were his own, saying that Torah
had had a thoroughly unfortunate effect, and that conscious-
ness of sin followed the attempt to practice the pattern of the
Law. Clearly Paul's later experience strongly influenced
his estimates of his earlier life.

To be sure, that Paul's first reaction to the story of Jesus
was thoroughly negative indicates his sincere loyalty to Ju-

1 8 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

daism. He says that he was impelled to oppose the emerging
Christian movement to the point of persecution. This em-
phasizes his devotion. It proves that in Paul Judaism had
a loyal and an enthusiastic representative. This is supported
by every relevant consideration in Paul's remarks about his
earlier life.

Other inferences are often made. The tradition that Paul
studied for the rabbinate in Jerusalem is as old as Luke-Acts.
Since the " life of Paul " is usually a weaving together of
the data of Luke-Acts, information from the letters and
other traditions, several examples of rabbinical exegesis and
theology are conveniently found to prove that Paul was a
trained rabbi. However, serious doubt is thrown upon the
assertion when the primary sources are critically studied. 5
In this matter, as in others, a negative attitude should be
taken to a tradition which owes its currency to tendentious
elements in Luke-Acts. Other details, largely drawn or in-
ferred from Luke-Acts, should be similarly judged, e.g.,
that Paul was a member of " the Sanhedrin " (it would be
necessary to inquire, which Sanhedrin?), that he was in-
volved in the death of Stephen, and was, indeed, a persecutor
of far greater ferocity than his own self-reproachful words
would indicate. A candid generalization should include
only what was suggested above, that Paul in his earlier life
was a loyal, if not a typical, legalistic Jew.

The new and revolutionary phase in Paul's religious life
came as a quite extraordinary experience. He had heard
the propaganda about Jesus, and had taken a strongly nega-
tive attitude toward it. His devotion to Judaism as he knew
it was such that he felt obliged to oppose the new movement,
even to persecute its exponents. But the astounding event

PAUL 19

occurred: he "saw" Jesus. He concluded that God had
given him a revelation. He generalized, at least as he stated
it later, that God had revealed his Son in him, and had set
him apart for a work which was itself part of God's plan.

While it is impossible to derive from Paul's statements any
large content which can be scientifically controlled, it is
inviting to view his experience as one of the whole number
of those persons who " saw " Jesus. Paul recounts it as
the final one of a series which began with Cephas and in-
cluded several others. If theirs were to be understood as
Paul explained his, the basis of the primitive preaching
might be stated with greater confidence. The point is im-
portant when it is remembered that the resurrection stories
of the gospels are much later than Paul's references to his
experience of the risen Jesus, and that their apparent ob-
jectivity is largely due to the fixity which these stories as-
sumed in their repetition. One must regard Paul's state-
ments about his experience as the primary source for the
study of the beginning of the resurrection stories.

It is another modernizing misconception to call Paul's
experience a " conversion." There is no reason so to regard
it. He was not converted from something to something else.
He never abandoned Judaism, nor does he seem to have
regarded his new life as in any sense separated from Judaism.
He understood his experience as transforming his nature.
It made a new man of the former man. As a considerably
later rationalization he insisted that the experience did for
him what Torah could not do: it secured for him the status
of " not guilty " in the judgment of God. But the aid which
he found in Scripture in understanding his experience the
more emphasizes the fact that it was not un-Jewish as he

20 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

saw it. Indeed, it is possible to point to the " Jewish bias " 6
of Paul. It may be apparent to moderns that Paul's work
had the effect of working a cleavage between the growing
cults of Jesus and Judaism, but it was not apparent to Paul.

Paul later made a theological explanation of his experi-
ence, and then, with the same enthusiasm as that with which
he had opposed Christianity, he began to propagate it. He
became an evangelist of the faith which he had opposed and
persecuted.

Paul propagated a certain type of the religious life, a type
which was to some extent exemplified by members of the
communities which he founded. He did this by making
his own experience the norm for others. Not that they were
expected to " see " Jesus; that part of his experience was ex-
ceptional. But they were expected to respond to his recital
of it, and to accept his interpretation of it: they were expected
to believe that Jesus had died for their sins, that God raised
him from among the dead, that he was in heaven, whence
he will come when God's anger breaks out against a wicked
age. Belief in these items of the story of Jesus and confes-
sion of him as Lord secured for the believer the status of
"not guilty" before God's judgment. He was saved; his
nature was transformed; from being evil he was good, the
old was new, the flesh-person was now spirit-person.

Spirit was indeed an important element in the religious
life as Paul conceived it. When one believed, holy spirit
took its abode in him and manifested its presence in dif-
ferent ways. Evidently the most usual expression was that
of causing the believer to speak in unintelligible gibberish:
" speaking in a tongue," or glossolalia, to use Paul's word.
Some of Paul's disciples were excessively fond of this. Paul

PAUL 21

valued much higher the spirit's prompting a prophetic mes-
sage. Sometimes spirit caused one to heal the sick, in other
cases it expressed itself in ability to teach or to do something
in the government of a church. There was much variety,
even confusion, in the way spirit expressed itself in the
Pauline groups. Probably this is a point of difference be-
tween Pauline and non-Pauline churches: spiritistic behavior
was congenial to and characteristic of Paul and the people of
his churches, while it was much less so in communities
founded and guided by other leaders.

Paul emphasized that God had commissioned him to carry
his message to non-Jews. He remarked that God had like-
wise commissioned Peter to work among Jews, and he seems
to have taken it for granted that James and John rightfully
worked in their spheres. But for him the important item
was the commission to go to the non-Jews. This is what he
did. He says that he worked for seventeen years in Syria
and Cilicia, making certain visits to Jerusalem. Aside from
these facts nothing is known of his activity before he wrote
his letters.

Paul's evangelization of non-Jews brought to the fore an
important question, the answer to which he consistently and
constantly asserted. The question was whether non-Jews
upon believing must become circumcised, i.e., join the Jew-
ish people. Paul insisted that he always and successfully
maintained that they need not and that they must not.

That he should have taken this position may at first seem
surprising. He was a devoted Jew. He never ceased to
value Judaism nor to insist upon the advantage of being a
Jew. It is highly probable that Paul's spiritism led him to
this position: since gentile believers manifested spirit pos-

22 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

session as did Jews he concluded that the belief which caused
Jew and non-Jew to become spirit-filled secured the status
of " not guilty," hence it was not only not necessary for the
non-Jew to become a Jew, but for him to do so would entail
the loss of his status as a guiltless spirit-person.

Further, that the believer must not become a Jew was
maintained by Paul on the ground that anyone might believe,
whether the believer were Jew or non-Jew, Greek or non-
Greek, man or woman, slave or free. Since belief trans-
formed one's nature, belief (or, to use the more familiar term,
faith) did what observing Torah had not done for Paul. He
went so far as to say that observance of Torah had never
done this for anyone; indeed, that it could not do it for
anyone. Paul thus distinguished between two ways of the
religious life, and he affirmed that the faith-way was the only
valid one. The Jew had a certain advantage, chiefly in
possessing Scripture, but the non-Jew need not and must
not become a Jew.

In this Paul was making use of the individualism which
was so characteristic of the Hellenistic age. 7 That it would
result in bringing into being religious societies which would
become serious rivals of Judaism seems never to have been
seen by Paul. That he made use of this attitude is under-
standable in view of his being a Hellenistic, rather than a
Palestinian Jew. Probably other exponents of the primitive
preaching used it; it will be remembered that preaching to
non-Jews had been practiced some time before Paul became
a teller of the story of Jesus. It has been well said that Paul
is a product of gentile Christianity. 8

One of Paul's most vigorous affirmations is that he never
deviated from the message which he had preached in the

PAUL 23

years before he wrote his letters. After the seventeen years
of this activity he went on several 9 journeys to the West,
evangelizing a number of communities and founding so-
cieties, to some of which he wrote his letters. In these letters
the essential characteristics of the Pauline type of religious
life may be observed. From them nothing contradicts his
statement that he represented these principles.

However, it should be kept in mind that the message of
Paul is only incidentally derivable from the letters. His work
was to preach, and this he did. His achievements were real-
ized through the spoken word, not through writing. It is
erroneous to use the letters to derive from them a theological
system; it is wrong to conclude that his message is fully
found in them. He wrote to deal with particular matters;
only occasionally is a statement of his message made.

Paul visited more places than those referred to in his let-
ters; he founded more societies than those to whom he
wrote. He worked according to plan: avoiding competition
with other leaders, he attempted to cover as thoroughly as
possible the territories of the north Mediterranean coast. He
worked westward, contemplating a visit to Rome en route
to Spain. Why did he not envisage work in Alexandria ?

At all events, he planted cults of Jesus in a number of
centers of the Empire. The movement which he introduced
there lived after him. It developed in ways not traceable
to his influence, and in ways of which he would probably
have disapproved. Yet these places were of prime im-
portance in the Romanization of the East, so that his work
related to the development of Hellenistic culture in his
period.

The achievement of a proper perspective will afford the

24 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

perception that Paul was a great leader and that his work
was of major importance, but it will also show that he prop-
agated a type of the religious life which was not universally
characteristic of the Christian movement. It will also re-
quire the recognition that in the East, the South, and the
farther North others were achieving results which, like his,
were of permanent significance.

w
THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING

/Vs was noted, Paul's letters were incidental and adventi-
tious results of his work as a messenger of the story of Jesus.
They were written late in his work. The extant letters
represent but a fraction of his activity; they do not account
for all his writing. While it is idle to speculate whether
Paul wrote anything previous to his earliest extant letter, it
is true that he wrote at least one letter which was not pre-
served. Of other letters the present forms are but frag-
; ments of the originals. It is probable that all surviving let-
ters have undergone considerable editorial modification.

Paul's extant letters include documents addressed to only
a few of the churches which he founded. Since these dis-
j cuss particular problems of specific situations it is manifestly
improper to derive from them generalized articulations of
a unified picture of "Christianity," or even of "Pauline
Christianity." The individual situation must always be kept
in mind.

It was only after Paul had taken the story of Jesus from
the continent of Asia to the continent of Europe that the im-
pulse to write occurred to him. This, at any rate, is the
significant implication of the usually accepted sequence of
the letters. 1 According to this consensus, the first 2 letter
was written to people in Thessalonica, people whom Paul
had evangelized with enough success to bring together a

2.5

26 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

society of believers, only to have trouble develop. He had
to leave the city. Yet he found that the people were much
on his mind; although he was confident of their sincerity he
was so concerned about their fate that he sent Timothy, one
of his associates, from Athens to Thessalonica to inquire
about them. After receiving Timothy's report he wrote
what is known as First Thessalonians.

Writing with Silvanus and Timothy, Paul warmly com-
mends the Thessalonian believers. He recounts aspects of
his work with them and in their neighborhood, especially
noting the difficulties encountered, and discloses his anxi-
eties on their behalf. He expresses his joyous relief on learn-
ing that they had survived the critical difficulties of their
first days as believers. He exhorts them to live moral lives.
He instructs them about details of the imminent end of the
age, particularly assuring them that believers who died be-
fore the end would not be at a loss as against those living at
the time.

The letter plainly exhibits characteristics of Paul's type of
the religious life. The Thessalonians were accustomed to
ecstatic seizures; since Paul urges them not to stifle the spirit
it may be inferred, however, that some deprecated this type
of experience. Paul remarks that it was unnecessary to tell
them about the end of the age; obviously they had accepted
his vivid apocalypticism. The moral exhortations show that
. there was not in every case the union of spiritism and be-
havior which was desired in Paul's code.

This brings to light a problem which often appeared.
When persons responded to Paul's highly spiritistic preach-
ing, some brought into the newly founded cults of Jesus the
moral patterns to which they were habituated; sometimes

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 27

these patterns left much to be desired, from Paul's view-
point. It must be borne in mind that there was as yet no
Christian moral pattern this had yet to be achieved. Paul,
like many moralists, assumed that believers would adopt
the code to which he was accustomed to conform, but they
did not always do so. But he was confident that the Thes-
salonians would readily adjust their moral to their spiritistic
living.

Paul found it necessary to urge the Thessalonians to re-
spect their religious leaders; evidently this was a problem.
Perhaps the depreciation of spiritism and prophesying
created it; doubtless the leaders who remained when Paul
left were ardent spiritists like Paul himself, while others in
the church who placed less emphasis upon this feature of
the religious life differed in this respect.

The authenticity of Second Thessalonians has been fre-
quently questioned. The basis of doubt is the alleged dif-
ference from the normal Pauline apocalyptic expectation; the
letter tends to negative the immediacy of the expected end
of the age, basing the postponement upon a theory that
there is a temporary restraining force, as well as certain proc-
esses and instruments in the program of the end.

However, there are details in the letter which admirably
fit the Thessalonian situation, thus authenticating it as a
sort of sequel to the former. For example, the second letter
intimates that erroneous views have been propagated as
Paul's by means of forged letters, so that Paul here indicates
his custom of writing the subscription of genuine letters in
his own hand.

Again, this source pictures believers who so vividly ex-
pect the end of the age that they have stopped working to

28 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

await it. It was consonant with the Pauline emphasis both
that they should do so, and that he should lay down the prin-
ciple that idlers were not to be supported.

Paul's letter to the Galatians 3 was written to several com-
munities in " Galatia " which Paul had evangelized at some
earlier time. The character and purpose of the letter are
apparent. The situation was serious. The people who had
believed Paul's message and had formed churches had after-
ward listened to propagandists who had affirmed that the
believers must accept circumcision (thus joining the Jewish
people) and become amenable to all requirements of Torah.
They were impressed and persuaded; they had already be-
gun to observe sabbaths and were at the point of accepting
the obligation to become circumcised. Paul wrote in the heat
of passion, defending the validity of his message and in-
sisting that the Galatians must not do what these leaders had
urged.

The opponents had intimated that Paul's authority and
message were of questionable validity; inasmuch as he had
not been a follower of Jesus he must have obtained his mes-
sage from secondary sources. Paul insists that it came di-
rectly from God: God revealed his Son in him. This is
quite consonant with the radical spiritism of Paul; is it
possible that the "fourteen years" of Galatians 2:1 and 2
Corinthians 12:2 give a clew to the experience in which the
. " revelation " was given ? Only on rare occasions, Paul says,
did he visit Jerusalem and meet other leaders, Cephas, James
and John. Even then he acquired nothing from them of con-
tent of his message.

This information heightens the necessary impression of
the individuality of the Pauline type of religion. On one

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 29

occasion, it is said, Paul went to Jerusalem "by revela-
tion " to discuss his missionary methods with other lead-
ers. The question was whether it was proper to receive
non-Jews as believers without requiring them to become Jews
(this is the ultimate meaning of the demand that they be
circumcised). Paul reports that his consistent practice was
endorsed; this in spite of certain " false brothers " who were
" smuggled in " to force a different policy. The outcome was
that Paul was to continue evangelizing non-Jews, while
Peter worked among Jews.

Paul tells of a sharp difference between himself and
Cephas 4 in Antioch. It had been the custom of Cephas, as
of Paul and others, to have inclusive fellowship with non-
Jews in the Antiochene community, but when representa-
tives of James came from Jerusalem to Antioch, Cephas
and Barnabas changed their way. Paul remonstrated with
Cephas. His reasoning was that since Cephas owed his
religious status to his faith-experience, 5 and since in line
with this he had been living with others who had also been
pronounced acquitted 6 by their faith, it was hypocritically
inconsistent now to live on the basis of Jewish custom and
to compel non-Jews to do the same. This example led Paul
to articulate the principle upon which his whole " gospel "
was based: no one is pronounced acquitted by doing what
Torah requires; one is pronounced acquitted by his belief
in the story of Jesus. Further, everyone who exercises that
faith, whether he be Jew or non-Jew, is thereby pronounced
acquitted.

Paul proceeds to argue this principle in detail. He is not
highly effective in argument. His assertions depend upon
a thoroughly arbitrary, and mechanical use of Scripture, so

30 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

that it is made to teach, not its intended meaning, but the
meaning which Paul wishes it to teach. That " Abraham
believed God " and that " his belief was credited to him as
justness " proves for Paul the validity of the faith experience
for his own believers. That a promise-was made to Abra-
ham's "seed" enables Paul to base an argument on the
singular number of the word, and, in spite of the plain fact
that the promise meant something entirely different, to
affirm that by the " seed " Jesus was meant.

Paul uses figures of speech somewhat more effectively:
Torah (or, rather, the Law, 7 as he prefers to call it) once
had a certain validity which it no longer possesses; it was
for mankind what the paedagogue was to the Greek child,
the slave who conducted him to his teacher the Law was
the slave who brought the believer to Jesus. The slave figure
was used further: a child is hardly better in legal status than
a slave; we used to be slaves to the cosmic elements, 8 but
God sent his Son to redeem us from this slavery to adopt
Judaism would be to reinstitute slavery. Again, the two
conditions might be compared to two Abrahamic covenants,
leading to two lines of descent, one from Hagar the slave,
one from the freewoman, Sarah. By the use of the allegorical
method, long familiar in Greek literary tradition, Paul makes
these two covenants represent Mount Sinai (where Torah
was first given, corresponding to Jerusalem) and the Jeru-
salem which is above, the type of freedom; believers are
therefore children of the free woman and of the free Jeru-
salem. This is devious reasoning, but characteristic of the
teacher who had convenient methods of making Scripture
mean what he wished it to mean.

In direct argument and exhortation Paul insists that if any

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 31

believer accepts circumcision he forfeits his status in Christ
and is obliged to keep the entire Torah; one who expects
to be pronounced acquitted through law cannot hope to
enjoy the status which is God's gift. Paul is extremely ir-
ritated; the Galatians were doing excellently when they were
subverted. In his rancor Paul expresses the wish that they
who were inducing the Galatians to cut oil the foreskin
would from themselves cut off the penis.

As in the Thessalonian situation, Paul found it necessary to
urge that the spirit life must not become a life of license; 9
believers must live moral lives.

No letter of Paul's is easier to understand than Galatians.
Yet.it presents difficult questions. Did the opposing leaders
represent Judaism, or a cult of Jesus which maintained that
all disciples must observe Torah; were they Jews or Jewish-
Christians? 10 When it is remembered that to adopt cir-
cumcision as the primary element of Judaism means that
the candidate was thus joining the Jewish people and race,
the logical propriety in regarding these persons as Jewish-
Christians is dissipated. There was no half-Jewish, half-
Christian status. The person who identified Jesus as
Anointed and insisted that Jewish Torah must be observed
was not a Jewish-Christian, but a Jew. On the other hand,
for a Jew to believe that Jesus was Anointed did not make
him less a Jew. It follows that Paul's opponents in Galatia
were Jews whose opposition was legitimate Jewish propa-
ganda. They are Witnesses of the spread of Judaism in the
far reaches of the world.

The arguments in Galatians imply another trend. Even
more plainly than in the Thessalonian letter, or letters, there
is evidence of persons who acted upon a logical implica-

32 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

tion of Paul's spiritism. They held that when they exercised
faith and became spirit-persons the spirit life was superior
to and independent of the flesh life. They acted upon this
principle, and behaved accordingly, becoming complete an-
tinomians. 11 Naturally, this was quite incompatible with
any current moral code. Evidence of such disciples of Paul
is to be found in other letters ; 12 persons of this type of ex-
perience were present in several of his communities. To-
ward them Paul took a practical, albeit an illogical, position:
spirit-persons must live according to a conventional moral
code. 13

Paul had a full correspondence with the members of the
church in Corinth. He had evangelized the Corinthians
after having been forced to leave Thessalonica, and was later
working in Ephesus. He wrote a letter (mentioned in i
Cor. 5:9) the main point of which was a warning not to
associate with immoral people. The Corinthians, or some
of them, wrote a letter to him, asking certain questions. The
letter known as First Corinthians is in part a reply to this
letter.

" First " Corinthians reveals several disturbing elements in
this community. The church had developed factions, with a
party devoted to the leadership of Cephas, of Apollos and of
Paul. Church people had disputes which they took to civil
(and therefore pagan) courts. There was flagrant sexual
immorality, including a case which Paul insisted was in-
cestuous. Certain church ordinances were scandalously held ;
the Lord's Supper was an occasion of gluttony and drunken-
ness. Paul disapproved of women's taking part in the serv-
ices. Expressions of spirit possession were uncontrolled, with
too great emphasis upon the less important of them. Since

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 33

some were puzzled about certain religious questions, e.g.,
how life after death was to be lived bodily, or whether it was
proper to eat food which had been sacrificially slaughtered,
Paul gave instruction on these points. Some were doubtful
whether they should marry, and some married people won-
dered whether they should separate from their partners.

The problems and their answers give much information
about an early " Christian " community. For instance, the
Corinthian group may be taken as a fair sample of the
proletarian life of the ancient world. " Not many wise peo-
ple, not many powerful people, not many of the well-born "
were in the group (i 126). The cult members were ordinary
low class persons who had responded to Paul's message of
individual redemption. They represented converts from the
seamy side of paganism; Paul once refers to sexually im-
moral persons, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate (in the ob-
scene sense) persons, sexual perverts, thieves, people guilty
of excess, drunkards, revilers and extortioners, and adds that
" some of you were such as these " (6:11).

The Corinthians avidly responded to the spiritistic im-
pulses which accompanied their religious lives. But in
some respects they were recalcitrant, stubborn and self-willed.
While Paul regarded himself as their parent in the religious
life, some of them, responding to other leaders, rebelled
against him. In spite of his instruction that they narrow to
a minimum their contacts with grossly immoral outsiders,
some of them not only condoned immorality, but kept a
certain offender in standing in the church.

Others were unduly ascetic. Some took the position that
marriage was incompatible with the spirit life; hence they
must sever their marital relationships. Some had decided

34 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

to refrain from sexual experience with their partners. Some
had determined not to marry, so as to devote themselves
utterly to the religious life.

Contrasting with these, there were still others who reacted
so radically to Paul's emphasis upon freedom that they be-
came libertines.

In meeting their problems, Paul deprecates their factions.
He observed that Cephas and Apollos, as well as he, were
doing God's work. He points out that his preaching was
deliberately in utter simplicity, thus any lack of human wis-
dom in his message was no sign of his inferiority nor of their
superiority; on the contrary, each worked in his own way
and God blessed the result. Paul sternly offers the people
an alternative: he expects to come to them soon, and inquires
whether he shall come in authority (literally, " with a club ")
or gently. He insists upon strict standards of morality, di-
recting that there should be no social fellowship with im-
moral people. Likewise he required that differences between
cult members be settled privately, without recourse to civil
courts.

In answering the questions which they had asked, Paul
first took up the matter of marriage. He stated the advan-
tages of the single life in a way which suggests that he saw
little value in marriage beyond the controlled expression of
sexual impulses. However, he recommended that married
persons should remain so, and cautioned them against pro-
tracted inhibition of sexual relationship. Although he taught
that the single life was practically better, he advised mar-
riage for those whose sexual inclinations were very strong. 14

About eating food which had been slaughtered in idola-
trous ritual, Paul took a practical position. The fact of sac-

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 35

rificial offering had not affected the food, which might be
eaten with impunity. But if some sensitive person should
raise a question about the propriety of eating it, considera-
tion for his point of view should lead one to refrain from
its use.

In these matters it is easy to see that membership in a cult
of Jesus had not necessarily led to a complete change in the
believer's way of life. Some, at least, did not discontinue
frequenting pagan temples (8 :io) . Common beliefs appear :
Paul, who denied any divinity in an idol, affirmed that back
of the idol was a demon (10:20-22). This was the basis of
his rule that one might not participate in pagan ceremonies;
one might not share in the table and the cup of the Lord
(Jesus) and the table and cup of demons.

Paul's statements about himself are instructive. The prin-
ciple of expediency is illustrated by his citing several rules
which he might have, but had not, followed, as taking pay for
his work, or being accompanied by a wife (as were the other
apostles, Jesus' brothers and Cephas). He makes the fa-
mous statement that he became all things to all men. In
doing so his figures betray the degree to which he was influ-
enced by Hellenistic life; his figures include reference to the
gymnasium, the stadium, and racing and boxing (9:24-27).

Not less instructive are the discussions of cult practices.
Although the Corinthians remember him and " hold fast the
traditions" (11:2) there are some unsatisfactory conditions.
The women have taken too much authority; they participate
in cult services, praying and speaking with bared head. They
must subordinate themselves to the men, Paul says, and
under no circumstances appear uncovered in public. This
teaching has caused much concern to moderns. Is Paul

36 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

here utterly reactionary, maintaining current social attitudes
which assumed woman's inferiority? It should not be ex-
pected that Paul would differ radically from current con-
ventions, were it not that his spiritism elsewhere (Galatians
3:28) led him to enunciate the principle that in Christ sexual
as well as racial and social distinctions are obliterated; clearly
this principle is contradicted here. It is clear, also, that Paul
is motivated by a superstitious world view; his reason why a
woman should be under authority is " because of the angels."

The bad manners of the Corinthians in the Lord's Supper
gave Paul so much concern that he discusses the proper man-
ner of its observance in some detail. In so doing he states
information of great value. Indeed, he quotes the primitive
ritual. Again, the emphasis upon tradition is significant;
Paul passed on to them what he had received from the Lord.
In this tradition the Supper was clearly a memorial, but it is
equally clear that in making his own interpretations Paul
largely conforms to elements of the contemporary world
view; the sacramental aspects of the Supper are plain. There
is something almost magical in his conception of the spirit-
istic power of the sacrament improper observance of it has
caused some of the Corinthians to fall victim of disease and
death.

First Corinthians 12-14 ' 1S tne locus classicus of information
on early Christian spiritism. Much is to be learned from the
passage. Even though the Corinthians were unusually spir-
itistic as compared with other Pauline Christians, it is cer-
tain that spiritism characterized many of the early disciples.
In this instance behavior in spirit possession sometimes got
out of control, and in some cases it was (Paul believed) the
result of possession by the wrong spirit. Sometimes the

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 37

spirit-filled person said, " Cursed be Jesus "; such a man was
possessed by evil spirit, for one filled by holy spirit might be
expected to say, " Jesus is Lord."

The major problem, however, was that the Corinthians
generally had a faulty set of values in respect to spirit mani-
festation. Spirit-filled people did a number of different
things. Some uttered prophecies, some gave messages of
teaching, some did works of healing, others worked other
types of mighty deeds, while still others " spoke in a tongue "
or were inspired to interpret such speaking. Too many, in
Paul's view, were expressing themselves in these glossolalia.
As a result, their meetings were disorderly, with a number of
people speaking unintelligibly at the same time. Outsiders
must think them insane. In any case edification of the group
was hindered. Paul pointed out that all these types of ex-
perience were the result of possession by holy spirit. He
remarked that " I speak in a tongue more than all of you,"
and he urged them to speak thus, but he insisted that other
expressions of spirit life were of superior value. He rated
the entire range, placing prophecy first and glossolalia last.
He urged practical considerations, e.g., that glossolalia were
not understood (unless someone was inspired to interpret),
which meant that the group was not instructed as it would
be by superior manifestations; that it was impossible for the
company to make the proper ritual response, and the effect
upon non-members was bad.

Paul's ideal pattern (14:26-40) is of great interest. Mem-
bers should contribute to common worship and instruction;
one will sing a psalm, one will offer a teaching, one will im-
part a revelation which he has had, one will speak in a tongue
a message which another will interpret. More than one, but

38 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

not more than three, may speak in a tongue; but if no one
present interprets no one is to speak in a tongue in common
meeting. Two or three prophetic messages will be offered
and interpreted. If another is inspired to speak the present
speaker must give way to him. Women are not to speak at
all. All should hope to be inspired to prophesy, but glos-
solalia are not to be forbidden. The meeting was partly
ritualistic, as is shown by the fact that people must know
when to pronounce the Amen.

Ecstatic behavior was common in Pauline Christianity.
It was highly valued by Paul and by his church members.
These phenomena characterized a considerable proportion
of the members of the cults of Jesus in this early period.
They were central in Paul's religion. This largely explains
the subordinate place of teaching of Jesus in Paul's letters
(and, probably, in his preaching). Likewise his use of
Scripture only for evidential purpose is explained; Ro-
mans 12 is readily understood in the light of its implied
appeal to give freer expression to the charismata.

The closing messages of i Corinthians are didactic and
practical. Considerable space is given exposition of resur-
rection as a true and an important teaching. Indeed, it is
part of the " tradition." The list of traditional " resurrec-
tion appearances," the first being to Cephas, the last to Paul,
and the meaningful distinction between " the twelve " and
" all the apostles " (incidentally, the primitivity of this ref-
erence to the twelve) 15 are important data in the study of
early Christianity. One will not overlook the importance
of Paul's citation of the appearance of Jesus to himself in the
whole sequence of resurrection appearances, implying, as it
does, that the several " appearances " were similar in nature.

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 39

Likewise Paul's classification of himself as an apostle is sig-
nificant, and his mention of himself as a persecutor is more
so.

The section has for its main subject the question of the
resurrection from among the dead. It is discussed in the
light of the tradition about Jesus' resurrection. To Paul this
was of primary importance; Jesus' resurrection, accepted
without question, guaranteed the resurrection of the believer.
As Paul saw it, the ultimate consequence of Jesus' resurrection
is cosmic; in his triumph over death Jesus reduced every-
thing, including death, to subjection. This explains why,
as Paul notes, people are baptized by proxy, so that those
who had died previously may share the cosmic benefits. It
also explains why Paul lived as he did the hope of resur-
rection was for him a powerful sanction.

In details of resurrection faith Paul habitually thought in
Jewish terms, while his hearers naturally thought in Greek
terms. It was natural for a Jew to contemplate the resurrec-
tion life in terms of life with a body, but this was incompre-
hensible to the Greek; to him life after death in or with a
body was a contradiction in terms. Paul had to explain to
such people how it was that the dead arose, and how they
were equipped with a body. His explanation was that there
were different kinds of body, a flesh, a " psychic " and a spirit
body; the resurrection would be with a spirit body. It is not
known how convincing this explanation was to the Greek-
thinking Corinthians.

Very practical details of instruction to contribute money
weekly reflect further information about the cult life of the
Corinthians. They are told to value leaders and to discover
others like those specifically named by Paul. Paul's own

40 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

paragraph of subscription includes a curse upon those who
have no love for the Lord and an ejaculated prayer (in
Aramaic) that the Lord come quickly.

As has been pointed out, " First " Corinthians is the sec-
ond letter which Paul wrote to the people of Corinth. Criti-
cal study of the remaining elements of the Corinthian corre-
spondence 16 has led to the inference, now widely accepted,
that 2 Corinthians 10-13 is a fragment of Paul's next letter,
written in a tone which was occasioned by the fact that
i Corinthians failed in its objective. So far from correcting
the abuses to which it addressed itself, the hostility to Paul
was intensified to the point where it was a critical issue
whether he could maintain his authority. The obvious emo-
tional relief expressed in 2 Corinthians 1-9 suggests that this
is the final part of the extant correspondence, and that the
severe letter to which it refers (7:8) 2 Corinthians 10-13
had won its point.

No one will affirm that this now conventional reconstruc-
tion of the sequence of the Corinthian correspondence can
be proved. But it corresponds with successive situations.
For example, the contrast of the irony and rancor of 2 Co-
rinthians 10-13 an d the warm ardor of 1-9 suits the hypothe-
sis perfectly. Thus viewed, all of 2 Corinthians is a most
valuable source for the study of Paul's personality. Ardent,
violent, ecstatic, emotionally unstable Paul appears as thor-
oughly human. The composite letter also reveals much of
Paul's expectations of the people. The religion which is nor-
mative is one of high, vivid spirituality; emotional satisfac-
tions are much more obvious than intellectual content.

The fragment of the harsh letter is no less instructive. It
contains, for example, the list of sufferings and persecution

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 41

experiences (11:22-33) which give far more information
about Paul's life than is furnished by Luke-Acts. Again,
the ecstatic experience referred to in 12:1-18 is extraordina-
rily revealing. This passage is usually understood as pictur-
ing an experience of Paul himself. It goes far to illustrate
Paul's religion as an ardent apocalyptist. It is possible that
the reference to " fourteen years ago " should be considered
together with the similar statistic of Galatians 2:1, 2. If so,
the experience was of fundamental importance in Paul's life;
it was a particular aspect of his vision of Paradise that it in-
cluded God's revelation of his Son.

Finally, Paul's insistence that he is not to be regarded as
inferior to the other apostles is significant, especially in the
pragmatic way in which the argument is put: the people had
had the signs of an apostle demonstrated in Paul's marvel-
ous acts.

It is the value of the hypothesis that this sequence enables
the student to observe the development and the issue of dif-
ficult and strained situations. Paul was dogmatic and arbi-
trary in his expectations of his people. He managed them
with a high hand. He made his own type of experience
normative for them. Not always consistent in his reasons
for his requirements, he was always insistent that what he
thought proper must be done. He was particularly incon-
sistent in his ethical requirements. On the one hand he
stressed the imminence of the end of the age, and empha-
sized the impelling force of spirit. On the other hand he
maintained conventional standards of morality and required
the people to conform to them. There has been much specu-
lation about the sources of Paul's ethic, 17 but the one fact
which stands out clearly is that his primary ethical motiva-

42 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

tion was his spiritism. 18 Some of his contemporaries thought
much more logically and consistently than he did, and saw
that if one was a spirit-person the fact determined his nature
and his ethical status. Some drew from this the inference
which Paul repudiated with abhorrence; doubtless others
accepted his word for what the practical life of spirit entailed
in practice. At all events, the Corinthian correspondence is
a valuable source for the study of the religious life of Paul
and of some of his people.

Paul's letter " to the Romans " 19 has striking differences
from the others. Its tone lacks vividness. It is cool and rea-
soned. Its thought proceeds from point to point as the de-
velopment of the argument requires. Again, it differs in
Paul's relation to its situation. He had never visited Rome.
The church had been founded by someone else, and Paul
was not accustomed to address churches founded by others.
Naturally he was unable to make the personal references
usually characteristic of his letters.

However, although he had never visited Rome, Paul had
often thought of going there. He would have liked to make
the journey as he wrote. But the collection for the relief of
the members of the Jerusalem group had become the deter-
mining factor; his plan was made to go to the East with the
offering. He was probably in Corinth when he wrote. This
strikingly dramatizes the situation. For with equal facility
he might have embarked upon a westbound or an eastbound
ship. Electing to go eastward, he wrote the letter instead of
making the visit. He was under no illusion about the prob-
able reception in Jerusalem, for he requested his readers to
" agonize " with him in prayer that he might escape from
those in Judea who were disobedient. Nevertheless he was

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 43

determined to go. He wrote the letter, as he says, " to ex-
change some charismatic gift " with the recipients.

Romans first presents Paul's convictions about how God
pronounces men acquitted. He does it as and when they
exercise faith, i.e., when they believe that God raised Jesus
from among the dead and when they confess him to be Lord.
God does this, then, because of his own nature and because
of the nature of men. God is just. But the world presents
a sorry picture. For men, capable of knowing the nature of
God, have attended, rather, to unprofitable speculations,
and morally they are utterly base. In this situation everyone
is responsible, whether he be Jew or non-Jew. The Jew de-
veloped Law and is responsible to obey it; the non-Jew is
also responsible, since he has standards which approximate
the requirements of Law. But although everyone is respon-
sible, there is no hope that anyone can meet his responsibil-
ity. True, the Jew has a primary advantage, since God re-
vealed himself in (Jewish) Scripture. But in his reliance
upon Law the Jew has placed his trust in the wrong place,
for the most that the Law can do is to articulate a conscious-
ness of sin. The Jew cannot be pronounced acquitted by
keeping the Law, nor can the non-Jew be pronounced ac-
quitted by unconsciously realizing its standard.

It is only by faith that one can be pronounced acquitted.
God in his justness exhibited Jesus as a reconciling sacrifice;
God pronounces men acquitted who believe. Acquittal is
for everyone who believes, Jew or non-Jew. There are no
exceptions; Abraham, for example, was pronounced ac-
quitted not by the rite of circumcision, but because he be-
lieved. Nor may the descendents of Abraham think that
their racial possession of the Law secures acquittal for them;

44 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

if it might, faith would be nullified. It is, rather, those de-
scendents of Abraham in belief who have the status. Thus
the promise of Scripture is realized: Abraham is the fore-
father of multitudes.

The candid and logical person will be aware of much in
Paul's reasoning which is specious. There are several points
which rest upon doubtful postulates, and others which do
not come from their postulates. But the next statements
are of even more questionable logic. For Paul goes on to
infer that the status of the sinful person, i.e., of all except
those pronounced acquitted, is the hereditary result of the
guilt of the first man. Death reigned from Adam to Moses.
Then the Law came, and, instead of enabling people to
achieve the status of acquittal, offense was increased. The
situation was utterly desperate until Jesus came, a new Adam.
He effected what apart from him was impossible; only
when one exercises faith in Jesus is one pronounced
acquitted.

Now Paul becomes highly mystical, presenting elements
in his teaching which are closely similar to elements in the
mystery cults. The believer identifies himself with Christ;
he is baptized into union with Christ, so that figuratively he
experiences death as Christ did, and as Christ was raised
from among the dead so the believer is raised to live a new
spirit life.

The new spirit life is expected to be utterly different from
the old flesh life. The believer used to sin grossly. Then,
consciously or unconsciously, he was responsible to Law,
which (as Paul has to his satisfaction " proved ") could
not secure his acquittal. But one is released from amenabil-
ity to Law when he dies; so the believer, having died with

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 45

Christ, is released from responsibility to Law he is now a
spirit-person.

Paul next protects himself from the implications that the
discharge from legal amenability sanctions sinful living, or
that the Law is an instrument of sin. In doing so he reveals
his conceptions of the nature of men. He begins by using
himself as an example ; he was once alive and without amena-
bility to Law, and therefore in sin. When he accepted ame-
nability, Law, in teaching what was sinful, invested it with
such attractiveness that desire to do what was sinful was
stimulated, and the desire became so powerful that it could
not be resisted. For there are different levels of the nature
of men: the physical (literally, the flesh level) and the spir-
itual. One may know what he ought to do, and may wish
to do it, and yet be unable to do it because the physical self
dominates as long as one is a flesh-person. It is only when
one is a spirit-person that he is able to live justly, and it is
only when he is pronounced acquitted that he is a spirit-
person. The faith of Christ is necessary to secure acquittal
for him. Thus the round of Paul's reasoning is complete:
God is just, man is evil, man can be pronounced acquitted
only when he exercises faith in Christ who did what no
man can do; therefore what Christ did in relation to the
justness of God secures the pronouncement of acquittal for
the man who believes.

This leads to a flight of high eloquence as Paul contem-
plates this perfect sequence. He draws a thoroughgoing
distinction between the flesh and the spirit levels. He sug-
gests effectively the status of the believer as a just person (i.e.,
as one who is pronounced acquitted). He movingly affirms
that the Spirit (i.e., God's Spirit, the Holy Spirit) helps one

46 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

and brings him to the consciousness that he is God's child.
Further, there are implications which are nothing less than
cosmic: all this was foreknown to God, who so ordered
events that all creation has been in the agony of birth-pangs
until the imminent denouement, when even our bodies will
be redeemed. God long ago predestined it; now he is bring-
ing it to pass. He did not withhold his own Son, but freely
offered him as a gift. Nothing can separate the believer from
God's love. That is the joy of the acquitted.

Why did Paul present this involved and minutely reasoned
argument? If he wished to impart some charismatic gift
to his readers, what did he think that he was accomplishing
by these teachings ? Did his readers need to be taught that
the Jew deserved a recognition which they had failed to
accord him? It should never be forgotten that whatever
was the result of Paul's leadership, or whatever his Jewish
contemporaries thought of him, Paul has a manifest Jewish
bias.

Again, was there current in the circle here addressed a
view of the meaning of what Jesus had been and had done
which Paul regarded as erroneous or inadequate? Were
they too legalistic in their conception of the religious life?
Had they used Jewish Scripture in such ways as to derive
from them interpretations which Paul found it necessary to
correct ? 20 Was he fearful lest they should be exposed to
teachings which he considered dangerous? Did he write
to forestall error ? These possibilities are clews to the reli-
gious problems basic to the writing of the document.

The second problem, discussed in Romans 9-11, may be
stated simply. Paul reveals his intense disappointment that
the Jewish people have rejected the good news of Jesus.

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 47

This presents a difficult problem. For in repudiating the
normativity of Torah Paul never doubts the validity of
Jewish Scripture on its non-statutory side. In these aspects
of Scripture God made promises. These are necessarily valid.
There are promises of a certain status for the Jewish people.
But they have rejected Jesus, who was also promised in
Scripture. It was intolerable to Paul that Scripture could be
self-contradictory. What then? Does their rejection by
Jesus mean that God has canceled his promise to the Jews ?
This, too, is intolerable. The promises are valid, despite ap-
pearances. Can the dilemma be solved?

Paul has a simple solution. It is that God has caused the
Jewish people to refuse to believe. This is an arbitrary view
of God, but Paul is able to adduce Scriptural examples of
similarly arbitrary behavior of God. But, he goes on, this
act was with reference to God's whole purpose; the Jewish
rejection of Jesus caused the messengers to speak to the non-
Jews. This was what God intended. The rejection will be
temporary, for now that his hardening of Israel's heart has
resulted in the evangelization of non-Jews, God will soon
cause the Jews to believe.

This discussion, like others, is particularly valuable for its
by-products. It tells much of Paul's religion. It shows how
he used Scripture. Its evidence for understanding the rela-
tions between Jews and non-Jews in emerging Christianity
is invaluable. It shows that when Paul wrote (about the
year 58) nascent Christianity was thoroughly gentile. The
failure of the preaching to the Jews was complete. It has
been pointed out that there was much in the primitive preach-
ing which unfitted it for Jewish reception. Paul's statements
show that this was so. The Jewish people, with slight excep-

EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

tion, had failed to accept it. Response had come from non-
Jews. The transition to gentile publics was effected before
Paul wrote these words, and its result was already apparent.

The remaining parts of Romans discuss several practical
matters. Chapter 12 is directed to the encouragement of its
readers to give freer rein to charismatic endowments. The
chapter, although with opposite aim, assumes a place beside
i Corinthians 12-14 as a revealing discussion of spirit gifts.

In the latter part of the same chapter advice of a paraenetic
nature is given. Here the language resembles that of the
gospels, so that it is sometimes thought that Paul here cites
" teaching of Jesus," or quotes from the " oral tradition."
This, however, is to mistake the matter entirely; the Paul who
trusts in charismatic inspiration has no need to cite " teach-
ing of Jesus," much less to quote a source. The proper per-
spective is reached when one remembers that " teaching of
Jesus " has no place in what Paul wrote, and therefore pre-
sumably in what he preached and taught. " Teachings of
Jesus " were merely in process of formulation during the
years of Paul's activity; it is questionable that he knew any
of these traditions, and improbable that he knew any con-
siderable amount. It was different, of course, in the work of
the non-Pauline leaders. The gospel traditions had their be-
ginnings in this period; it does not follow that non-Pauline
leaders were as unsympathetic to this trend as Paul was. But
the discussion of this belongs to later sections of the present
study.

Paul advises his readers concerning the right attitude to-
ward civil government. His teaching is in complete agree-
ment with traditional Pharisaic Judaism; civil government
exists because God wills it; it is therefore necessary to be

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 49

obedient to it and to discharge the duties thus entailed, in-
cluding tax-payment and maintenance of respectful bearing
toward officials; one ought not to resist government; one
should be a scrupulously law-abiding subject. Character-
istically, a contiguous paragraph stresses the imminence of
the apocalyptic denouement as sanction.

Then comes a discussion about dietary practices and the ob-
servance of special days. The advice is the same as that given
the Corinthians: these matters are immaterial except as they
affect other persons; in such case one should avoid giving
offense.

But Paul here makes a remark which is extraordinarily
revealing for what it implies. In writing about dietary cus-
toms he says: " I know; I have been persuaded by the Lord
Jesus that nothing is common as such " (14:14). This state-
ment, in connection with what follows, strongly suggests that
Paul was anything but consistent in following Jewish dietary
customs; no Jew who took Jewish teaching and practice as
normative could say what Paul here says. It is clear that
Paul in this situation, with a now long experience of the re-
ligion which he lived, did not observe Jewish customs and
practices with any degree of strictness.

The remark is instructive otherwise, too. It is in character-
istic Greek idiom: " I have been persuaded by the Lord
Jesus," or, literally, " in the Lord Jesus." Now, this idiom 21
is familiar in Paul's writings. It is part of his mystical termi-
nology. 23 It has important bearing with reference to Paul's
religion; it indicates how Jesus was a source of his knowledge.
How was he? In this connection, again, it is sometimes
thought that Paul is citing a teaching of Jesus, of which
Mark 7:1-23 is the literary witness, Mark 7:19 being cited

50 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

here. But this is impossible; Mark 7:19 is not a saying of
Jesus, but an editorial comment. In any case it would be out
of keeping with the very nature of Paul's religion to cite some
incident from the life of Jesus, or to quote, even from oral
tradition; impossible for him to have quoted a gospel, since
none was yet written.

It is much more probable that Paul had learned from
ecstatic experience that no food was common as such; that
it had been revealed to him in ecstasy that he and other be-
lievers might eat what was available. This is quite in line
with what has otherwise and elsewhere been observed. It
is in keeping with Paul's non-use of Jesus' teaching. It is
evidence that experience of a definite type was basic in
Pauline Christianity. It enables the investigator to see that
customs and conventional behavior in Paul's groups were de-
veloped from experience, and that teachings about them
were generalized from experience. To say then that they
came from the Lord Jesus invested the teachings with power-
ful sanction.

The final items are partly hortatory, partly personal. In a
restrained tone Paul expresses confidence in his readers. He
tells them several things about his work. He says that it is
by God's favor that he was made a minister of Christ among
the non-Jews. He has had a measure of success, which has
been exhibited by spoken words and by deeds, proved by
omens, marvelous acts and spirit power. These remarks,
too, illustrate the spiritistic nature of his religion. Now, hav-
ing preached from Jerusalem to the environs of Illyricum,
there is no further territory in this area to evangelize. It is
noteworthy that Paul thought only of the parts of the east
and the north Mediterranean, with no reference to Alexan-

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 51

dria or Africa. He thought of going to Spain, stopping the
while in Rome. But now he is going to take the collection
gathered by the people of Macedonia and Greece to the
people of Jerusalem; after this is done he hopes to go to
Spain. In the meantime he is under serious apprehension of
what may occur to him in Jerusalem; he asks his readers to
" agonize " with him in prayer that he may escape from those
in Judea who are disobedient, that the gift may be well re-
ceived, and that he may then come to Rome. These reveal-
ing items throw into high light the differences between
Pauline and non-Pauline Christianity. Although the details
cannot be inferred, the expectation of possible violence is
obvious, and the fact is significant.

The only consensus concerning the remaining letters at-
tributed to Paul, i.e., Philippians, Colossians, Philemon and
Ephesians, is the custom of regarding them together and
calling them "prison epistles." However, the traditional
theory (based upon the last chapter of Luke-Acts) that they
were written from Rome, has been challenged by the attrac-
tive theory that certain of them were written while Paul was
imprisoned in Ephesus 2S (or as a recent study of three of
them infers, Caesarea). 24 There is serious doubt, of course,
of Paul's authorship of Colossians and Ephesians. 25

It is advisable to hold in abeyance any judgment of the
place of writing of the " prison epistles." This is not because
dating thus becomes a difficult problem. It is now known,
for example, that the quasi-Gnosticism combatted in Colos-
sians may well have been in existence at the time involved by
the theory of an Ephesian imprisonment. 26 As for the alleged
high doctrine about Jesus, it is difficult to see anything in
Philippians or Colossians which is " higher " than the con-

52 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

ception of Jesus which, is found in unquestioned Pauline let-
ters. In these Jesus is a person of divine status or nature
whose reconciling work was nothing short of cosmic in its
effect. There is nothing in the three " prison epistles " which
might not have been written by Paul in the time required by
the new theory.

The problems of Ephesians are more difficult. Until re-
cently there has been current, aside from the traditional view
of Pauline authorship, only one view of the writing of
Ephesians which rests upon an adequate analysis of evidence.
No one has studied the work with more patience, industry
or careful reasoning than that evinced by H. J. Holtzmann,
whose research represents the first thoroughgoing analysis
of Ephesians and an investigation of its relations with Colos-
sians. 27 The second critical view is that of Professor E. J.
Goodspeed, whose study 28 deserves as close attention as that
of Holtzmann. It does not offer merely a rationale for the
negative judgment of authorship, but accounts for the writ-
ing of the pseudonymous letter by discovering its intended
purpose. This was the acute perception, by a church leader
during the days of Domitian, that Paul's letters are particu-
larly instructive when they are read together, and that when
they are read together they teach not merely the churches to
which they were written, but all the churches indeed, the
" Church." Consequently this unidentified leader collected
such of Paul's letters as were available, and " published "
them, i.e., caused them to be copied and circulated together.
Following certain literary models, he wrote what is now
called the Letter to the Ephesians as an introductory cover-
ing letter. Originally the pseudonymous letter had no place

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 53

name; that " in Ephesus " is an intrusion into the text is well
known; how the words got there cannot be determined.

Since Professor Goodspeed's study of Ephesians and some
of its implications seem to be convincing, discussion of Ephe-
sians will be omitted from the present section. It will occur
in its proper place, as an aspect of the Christianity of the
gospel-making period.

To resume the proper theme, the discussion of Philippians
should be made first, if for no other reason than Lightfoot's
incisive observations. 29 In it the atmosphere of imprison-
ment is plain. The people of Philippi, hearing that Paul was
a prisoner, sent assistance to him by Epaphroditus. Unfortu-
nately the messenger fell ill, and Paul had to care for him.
Now that he is able, Paul is sending him home. He urges
the Philippians to receive him. There are other references
to imprisonment (1:7, 14; 2:23).

However, the atmosphere of Philippians does not seem to
be the same throughout the " letter." This should be kept
in mind when it is observed that " seams " appear clearly in
several places. Together, and in conjunction with still other
evidence, these data strongly suggest the composite nature of
Philippians. Professor Goodspeed's translation of 3:1 is
doubtless correct: " Now, my brothers, good-bye." This is
the usual sense of the Greek word xcupere. Thus 3 12 must be
a different letter. Compare also 4:4. The abruptness with
which Philippians proceeds requires the judgment that sev-
eral letters have been edited together. A reference in a later
writing corroborates this. Polycarp of Smyrna, in a letter to
Philippi, remarks that Paul wrote " letters " to them (Epistle
of Polycarp, 3 12) . While this might apply to our Philippians

54 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

and to lost letters, it is likely that it alludes to composite
parts edited together to make our letter.

The content of the " letter " presents some difficult prob-
lems. Lohmeyer suggests that 2:5-10 is a pre-Pauline
hymn. 30 He also stresses the data of persecution in the
source, finding in them the underlying theme. He develops
these hypotheses attractively, but it can hardly be said that
he demonstrates his points.

Another difficulty is in the anti- Jewish passage of 3:2^,
the bitterest and most venomous anti-Jewish polemic found
in Paul's writings. It is extremely odd that Paul should have
referred to circumcision in the sarcastic epithet, " cutting."
It was not usual for Paul to ridicule Jewish custom! Why
was he impelled to affirm his own Jewishness so strongly in
3:4!!? If the situation in Philippi was as sketched in Luke-
Acts (Acts 16:11-40) it is the more strange, for Luke-Acts
implies that there were not enough Jews there to form a
synagogue. Had Jewish opposition developed later ? Or is
this a fragment of a Pauline letter originally written with
reference to another situation? However it may be, the
data are valuable for what they disclose about Paul's early
life and subsequent religious attitudes.

Non-Pauline leaders are plainly referred to in Philippians
i :i5~i8. The non-Pauline elements in the emerging Chris-
tian movement have been mentioned. Here is explicit refer-
ence to their activity.

The letter to the Colossians, as is well known, is often re-
garded as un-Pauline. Yet it is not mere conservatism to
point out the flaws in the logic which is usually followed.
Hardly a single modern rejection of Colossians adds anything
to the judgment expressed nearly a century ago by Baur.

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 55

This is because until recently it was believed that every form
of Gnosticism was a late adaptation to Hellenism, so that
a document tinged by it could not have been written by Paul.
It is now known that Gnosticism was part of the whole trend
by which Oriental influence in religion and thought became
influential in the West; it is also known that the syncretism
began early. In the light of these data Lohmeyer investigated
Colossians anew. The result of his work 31 shows that there
is nothing in the data of the syncretistic religions which pre-
cludes the writing of the letter in Paul's lifetime or by Paul
himself.

The content of the letter about the nature or the status of
Jesus needs to be viewed similarly. For Paul Jesus was al-
ways a divine figure, whose work was cosmic in scope. The
high doctrine about Jesus does not determine that the letter
is un-Pauline.

Colossians does, however, differ from indisputably Pauline
letters in the degree to which it uses language and concep-
tions of Hellenistic religions, particularly the mystery cults.
The difference is not so great between Colossians and certain
parts of the Corinthian correspondence, and there are strik-
ing parallels elsewhere (e.g., Romans 6:2ff). On the whole,
the influence of the mystery cults upon Paul, while it is
denied by many, is obvious. 32 A difference which, as in this
case, is one of degree, is not of much importance.

More significant is the liturgical quality of the language
of Colossians. A careful examination of the style of Paul's
letters bears out the observation that this is a unique feature.
It must be taken into account in studying the question of
authorship.

Perhaps the most important question concerns the nature

56 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

of the teaching in Colossians 3:18-4:1. These homely ad-
vices stood there long before their nature was observed. The
approach from the standpoint of form led to this discovery.
Weidinger 33 recognized the passage as an example of the
" table of household duties " which generalized particular
items of ethic common in the Hellenistic world. He care-
fully studied the passage in the light of its parallels in the
Graeco-Roman and the alleged Hellenistic-Jewish literatures.
He showed that in this and other examples found in early
Christian writings the current Christian leader merely took
over in his Haustafel the conventional moral pattern
which existed in his time and place. Such " Christianiza-
tion " as was given was but slight and elementary; in the
present case if the words " in the Lord " or " fearing the
Lord " are omitted, the code does not differ from conven-
tional Stoic morality.

Not that it constitutes a problem to discover that part of
a Pauline letter was derived from contemporary sources.
This passage constitutes a problem because it raises a funda-
mental question about the very nature of the religion pro-
moted by it. It has been shown that Paul does not cite au-
thorities and use sources in his ethical teaching. When he
does derive something " from the Lord " he gets it by ecstasy.
Here, if Weidinger is right, a code is used with but slight
adaptation. What does this imply ?

A thorough study of Paul's ethical teaching emphasizes
the problem. Why should Paul, to whom the end of the
age was imminent, have taught ethical codes ? Why should
so highly spiritistic a teacher have taught here as though
life was not spiritistic? Answers to these questions have
been too simple. It is usually thought that Paul derived his

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 57

.ethic from Judaism; that Pauline Christianity is merely the
joining of gentile cult conceptions and Jewish ethics. Some
have thought that Stoicism was the source of Paul's ethic.
But such judgments do not penetrate to the ultimate prob-
lem: since Paul conceived the religious life as he did, why
did he promulgate an objective ethical code ?

Weidinger throws the problem into high relief. The im-
plication of his discussion constitutes the most serious diffi-
culty in maintaining the Pauline authorship of Colossians.
For there is no example of the Haustafeln in any other
Pauline letter. Moral exhortation (or paraenesis) there is.
But the ethical teaching of other letters is almost always
specific and with reference to the particular situation of the
given letter. Generalized code or pattern is found only here.
In this Colossians is unique.

It has been suggested that the date of Colossians gives a
clew; that in his later days Paul had changed in a number
of fundamental respects, so that he was not then averse to
making use of such values. Indeed, all the " prison epistles "
are sometimes considered as the " later " as distinct from the
" earlier epistles." 34 For example, it has been suggested that
Paul's thought about the end of the age underwent "de-
velopment." 35 But evidence for this and for other instances
is scant. It is doubtful that a few years in Paul's life had such
profound effect. His literary activity was brief; " develop-
ment " during the period is improbable, and certainly it
would not have been caused merely by the passing of time.
Paul's pre-literary period was longer; if development oc-
curred it would have been during these formative years.
When he began to write his mind was made up; it is un-
likely that it changed in any important respect or degree.

58 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

It must be concluded that the presence of a Haustafel in
a Pauline letter is abnormal. Does it follow that the letter is
ungenuine ?

To be sure, a certain strangeness in Colossians is natutral.
As in the case of Romans, Paul's lack of personal acquaint-
ance with the readers may account for the less familiar tone
in the letter.

Other striking elements in Colossians include the asser-
tion of highly honorific qualities to the nature of Christ, and
the combatting of popular ascetic tendencies. The language
approaches the terminology of the mystery cults much more
obviously than is usual in a Pauline letter. The emphasis
upon the mystical relation of the believer with Christ is very
strong. The letter expects the believer to become a spirit-
person. The point is explicit: the ideal is that he become one
with Christ, and therefore a pneumatic; his physical nature
then is dead; he has put aside all the behavior which charac-
terized him as a flesh-person. He is then a new self. It
matters not whether he had been Greek or Jew, non-Greek
or a savage, slave or freeman what matters is that Christ
is all and in all.

It is then to be expected that behavior in the spirit life will
be in proper character with it. The spirit life has its virtues,
which Colossians cites, going on to point out the usefulness
of sharing in the religious assembly. At this point the Haus-
tafel occurs, with directions to married women and men,
children, fathers and slaves.

With reference to the situation in the Colossian church,
Lohmeyer's study has made it easier to believe that some
form of Gnosticism existed in Paul's churches during his
lifetime. Every element of mystical and ascetic religion to

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 59

be observed in the Colossian situation (e.g., the worship of
heavenly bodies, keeping special days and ascetic practices) is
to be found in the Asian and Phrygian territories between
which Colossae was located. The crossing of these tendencies
with Judaism is also to be observed there, with the addition
of circumcision and dietary customs. Paul obviates the spe-
cial validity of these by subsuming every possible religious
value under Christ as the divine fulness (or pleroma, using a
term common in the Gnostic systems). These have the
status accorded the Law in the other letters: they were natu-
ral elements in the religious life of people who have not
learned about Christ. Indeed, the people were enslaved to
them until Christ came. Now, however, one may respond
to the preaching of Christ, who then becomes the head of all.
The believer becomes in union with him, and all the former
elements of his religious life are invalidated. The believer
then owes it to Christ, with whom he is in union, not to
continue in his former ways. He is a new creature, and he
should live accordingly. The observance of special days, di-
etary distinctions, angel-worship, ascetic abstinence, self-
humiliation, enslavement to the " elements of the cosmos "
these are all secondary to the mystical relation with Christ,
which renders them all unnecessary. It is idle to regard these
teachings as mere anti- Jewish or anti-Gnostic polemic; they
indicate an advanced adaptation to elements in Paul's total
religious background.

The personal references in Colossians are of value. The
letter is closely related to " Philemon," and the reference to
the letter to the Laodiceans presents a problem which will
be discussed presently. The note that (Aristarchus?) Mark
and Jesus-Justus are the only converts from Judaism who

60 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

have been of any comfort to Paul ought to be taken in the
light of Romans 9-11; it is another proof that the response of
Jews to the primitive preaching was so slight that thus early
the number of Jewish leaders was negligible.

The little letter " to Philemon " closely resembles the many
non-literary papyri of the Hellenistic period. But its con-
tents are by no means of inconsiderable importance. Indeed,
if Professor Goodspeed's view, followed here, attains general
acceptance the common attitude toward the letter will be
revolutionized. As he shows, it is not to Philemon alone.
It is addressed to Philemon, Apphia, Archippus, and to the
church which meets in Philemon's house. It is not a letter
to an individual, but another letter to a church.

The letter was written because at some time while Paul was
in prison (probably in Ephesus, not far from Laodicea and
Colossae) he had " converted " a runaway slave, one Onesi-
mus, 36 the property of Philemon (or Archippus?). Paul
sent him back to his owner, and sent (presumably with him)
this letter.

Its message is simple: those addressed are exhorted to re-
ceive and welcome Onesimus; it is hoped that he will be
treated not as a runaway slave but as a brother in Christ. It
is delicately suggested that he be sent back as a freedman to
be Paul's helper. Paul subtly points out that it is owed him
to have these things done. The expectation is strengthened
as the church is addressed together with the responsible
individuals.

The importance of the message appears when it is re-
called that the usual treatment of a recaptured slave was se-
vere in the extreme. His owner had the power of life and
death over him; if he should cause him to be beaten so se-

THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING 61

verely that he died the owner was not culpable. Presumably
some punishment would have been meted out to Onesimus
if he had been returned without the benefit of Paul's letter.
It was, surely, a serious matter for Paul to send him back.

It will be remembered that Paul urged the Colossians to
send his letter to them to the group at Laodicea, and to have
the letter to the latter sent to Colossae. If Professor Good-
speed's theory is correct, this would place the force of the
Colossian church, too, behind the request made in " Phi-
lemon," thus bringing further sanction to bear. The hy-
pothesis, otherwise attractive, is also forceful in this aspect.

What of the final days of Paul's life ? This study has made
no attempt to state, even briefly, the available facts of Paul's
" life." It has had as its objective merely to summarize the
characteristics of Paul as a religious leader, to observe what
may be learned of his religious life and leadership, and to
view him in relation to the emerging and growing Christian
movement. It has repeatedly emphasized the presence of
pre-Pauline and of non-Pauline Christianity. It has cau-
tioned against regarding " Pauline Christianity " as norma-
tive or as typical of all Christianity. It has sought to be free
from the error of supposing that when one has read a " life "
of Jesus and of Paul he has thereby been informed of the
genesis and growth of Christianity.

Yet the probable historical events of Paul's last days are
instructive of situations in the evolution of Christianity.
The " prison letters " represent more than one experience
and more than one time of writing. Doubtless the fears of
what might happen in Jerusalem were realized; when Paul
went to Jerusalem he went to an untoward fate which re-
sulted in his death. Whatever critical reconstruction of the

62 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

later chapters of Luke-Acts is required, whatever result of
the necessary criticism of extra-biblical tradition is reached,
it is probable that Paul met his death by execution at the
hands of the State.

Paul came to be particularly revered when he was in-
vested by tradition with the martyr's role. This, more than
his life-work, made secure his status in Christian esteem.
Yet it was to be credited to him that when he met his death
he had evangelized much of the territory of the north Medi-
terranean, and had planted there a number of important
churches. That these were in most cases at strategically im-
portant points 3T may or may not have been intended by
Paul; they were in fact strategically located, and they were
well enough founded that they endured. That he wrote
letters while executing his task was incidental to his pur-
poses, but the fortunate accidents of their writing and preser-
vation brings to modern study a relatively considerable bulk
of important source material.

The presence beside Paul's communities of groups of early
" Christians " whose religious lives differed in characteris-
tic ways from Paul's conceptions in no wise detracts from
Paul's achievements. It is necessary to study these indications
of non-Pauline Christianity, however, as it is necessary to
study the religious lives of the people of Paul's churches and
of Paul himself. Such study enables the student to discover
significant developments in these non-Pauline circles, and
to observe their contributions to the growth of Christianity.

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE
THE GOSPELS

A

THE GOSPEL MATERIALS

number of generalizations about the early growth of
" Christianity " have been made. The movement began
when certain persons spoke of having " seen " Jesus after his
death. They told their stories to anyone and all who would
listen. Soon there grew up several small groups of people
who believed them. These groups were early to be found in
several places in and outside the land of Israel. They early
became inclusive of Jews and of non-Jews, and it was not
long until the non-Jews outnumbered the Jews.

Such was the situation when Paul, about whom more is
known than about any other early leader, came upon the
scene. He spread the growing cults of Jesus in many locali-
ties of the north shore of the Mediterranean. His influence
resulted in the currency in these communities of a particular
type of religious experience.

But before Paul and during his activity non-Pauline trends
were present in emerging Christianity. These must not be
overlooked.

It was emphasized that in the Pauline letters, and thus
probably also in the Pauline preaching, there is little refer-
ence to Jesus' career. Aside from a few passing remarks, from

63

64 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

which an occasional datum may be inferred, there is very
little to be learned about Jesus, and still less about his teach-
ing, from Paul.

Why was it so? One reason was suggested: Paul's con-
ception of religion was one to which these features were not
germane. Charismatic inspiration was normal in Paul's re-
ligion. Literary or oral sources of knowledge, even of Jesus'
life and teaching, were gratuitous. Jewish Scripture was
indeed used, but this the more accentuates the fact that Jesus'
life and teaching were not.

True, Paul's preaching resembled that of other early mes-
sengers in giving central place to Jesus' death and resurrec-
tion. About these themes there was an early and a constantly
growing tradition, which Paul, like every other preacher,
used in some form. This does not, however, contradict the
fact that in the writings, and presumably in the preaching,
of Paul there is the barest minimum of reference to the life
and teaching of Jesus. It may therefore be concluded that
if other leaders had been like Paul, or if Christianity gener-
ally had been like the religion of the Pauline communities,
the gospels as we have them would never have developed.
It follows, then, that the growth of the gospels furnishes a
number of clews for the study of non-Pauline Christianity.

The growth of the gospels has long interested scholars.
In general, when it became customary to study the gospels
individually (that is, not harmonistically) and compara-
tively, two theories of their origin arose. Obviously the first
three are more or less similar to one another, and these three
differ from the fourth. A study of the first three discovered
a number of detailed similarities (some involving all three,
others involving two of the three) and certain individual

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 65

differences. Items were observed in which two of the three
agreed together against a third. These phenomena suggest
that the gospels are related to one another. An early gen-
eralization was that Mark, similar to but briefer than Mat-
thew and Luke, was an abridged epitome of these. But when
thorough analysis was made this idea was reversed: it was
shown that Mark was prior to and a source of the others. 1

Another theory was that the relations of the gospels were
not literary at all, but that the stories of Jesus, originally told
orally, attained fixed form, so that the four gospels represent
the writing of as many forms of oral tradition. 2 This theory
enjoyed wide currency for a time. It offers a simple explana-
tion of the differences between the gospels.

But theories of literary relationship inevitably superseded
the oral hypothesis, for the similarities in the gospels can-
not be explained by it. Presently appeared the theory which
until recently held all but universal sway: that the sources
of the first three gospels are two: Mark and another source
which was found in some total of the materials similar in
Matthew and Luke but not paralleled in Mark. 3 This hy-
pothetical source was referred to by the symbol " Q " (for
Quelle, source), and the hypothesis was called the Two
Source, or the Two Document Hypothesis.

A little reflection shows that this simple explanation of
the relations of the first three gospels does not account for
all the facts. It leaves out of consideration the materials in
a gospel which are not paralleled in another. Some of the
materials are only roughly similar in two or three (or the
four) gospels; close inspection makes it doubtful that two
(or more) accounts of the same item are before one's eye.
Often items similar in language are in widely different po-

66 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

sitions in the gospels. These considerations make it very
difficult to determine the content of the "second source";
when scholars offered " reconstructions " of " Q " their dif-
ferences caused the hypothesis to break down.

Consequently there appeared a theory that the sources of
the synoptic gospels number more than two. Thirty years
ago a study of the first three gospels * suggested that a mul-
tiple source hypothesis, rather than a two source theory, was
required by the facts. According to this study, the accounts
of Jesus' birth and infancy represent two sources, Mark was
another. Since Luke has much in his Passion Story which
is without parallel, a special source here was identified. The
materials of Matthew for which there was no parallel else-
where indicate a source. Then, finally, the materials paral-
leled in Matthew and Luke, but not found in Mark, were
found to contain two sources, and it was suggested that one
of these was probably composite.

Twenty years later two theories, advanced at the same
time, but arrived at independently, were published. 5 These
suggested that the sources of the first three gospels num-
bered four: Mark, a document represented by the peculiar
materials of Matthew, a source named by the old symbol
" Q " (although it was defined as of different content), and
another made up of some of the materials of the old " Q "
but called "L." Both theories developed new judgments
about the use of Mark as a source in Matthew and Luke, and
a new theory about the origin of Luke. Older theories re-
garded Mark as the primary source of Matthew and Luke,
into which the non-Marcan materials were introduced. The
new theories are that while Matthew proceeded in this way,
the first form of Luke consisted of the materials of Q plus

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 67

L; this " Proto-Luke " was the first draft from which the
present Luke was made by incorporating the Marcan mate-
rials into it. 6

These interesting features obtained for this form of the
multiple source theory a wide currency, a distinction never
accorded the early form. However, a critical perspective
shows clearly that the later formulations of the theory are
hardly more than a conservative or even a half-way step in
the direction much more logically developed in the earlier
essay.

The most recent research directs attention to still more
minute detail. The multiple source hypothesis, even in the
form which identifies the largest number of sources, 7 still
deals with fairly extensive aggregations of gospel materials.
What may be said of the materials themselves ?

The gospels contain a number of brief stories about Jesus
and a number of his sayings. Sometimes the stories are
purely narrative, stories of something which he did, a " mir-
acle," a journey, or an exploit. Sometimes the stories con-
tain sayings; there are also sententious sayings and dialogue.
There are narrative sayings, e.g., parables. Some sayings are
of such miscellaneous nature that their place beside one
another seems to have been purely arbitrarily assigned by
the evangelist.

A number of scholars analyzed the gospel materials anew.
One compared the gospels with other writings of their pe-
riod, 8 discovering their place in general literary development.
They were found to be non-literary, or unliterary, in char-
acter. They do not attempt elegance of writing. They are
practical. Their contents relate to the purposes of the
advancement of the religious movement from which they

68 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

came. Another study analyzed the "framework" of the
story of Jesus. 9 It showed that the gospels consist of a num-
ber of individual parts, or sections (the technical term is
" pericopes ") which have been brought together by the
gospel writers in quite arbitrary fashion, the individual peri-
copes bound together by typical and conventional formulae.
It is a startling fact that nothing in the pericopes binds them
together by nature; when the "binders" are removed the
individual sections fall apart.

Two studies analyzed the separate pericopes. 10 These were
found to be classifiable. They are, in fact, several examples
of a few types of narratives or sayings. They were identified
by their literary form, so that studies of them came to be
called Formgeschichte (inadequately translated as "form-
history," or " form-criticism " 11 ). What may be learned of
the origin of these pericopes ?

The earliest and most constant element in the stories about
Jesus was the theme of his death and resurrection. The Pas-
sion Story is the oldest and the most constantly renewed
theme in the story of Jesus. This was the story which the
earliest evangelists told. For some it was, indeed, the story
of their experience. Those who heard them and believed
repeated their stories. If the bare and simple stories grew in
number, volume, and adornment in detail this is only what
might be expected; the differences between the several extant
. narratives are less than they might readily have been.

The growth of stories of Jesus' death and resurrection
naturally required some reflection about Jesus' nature. He
who had so remarkable a fate must have been a remarkable
person. Who was he? Not that there was detail about
Jesus' birth, lineage or career in any primitive stage. The

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 69

probabilities are that the earliest speculations about Jesus'
nature were those which led, on the one hand, to his identi-
fication as God's Anointed, and, on the other hand, to the
telling of stories about his remarkable deeds as a spirit-filled
person. It is an irresistible guess that Jesus was thus early
identified as the One who was to come on the clouds as an
apocalyptic Anointed. This is about the stage of reflection
which one sees in the religion of Paul. Paul insists that God
revealed his Son in him, from which revelation he learned
such things as that Jesus had died for our sins, had been
raised from among the dead, had appeared to certain per-
sons, is now in heaven whence he shall come to raise all from
the dead and to bring in the Reign of God. Certainly others
engaged in such reflection and made comparable identifica-
tions.

Another line of development was easy and natural. There
were many cults in the Graeco-Roman world in which dying
and rising savior-gods were central figures. When the stories
of Jesus' death and resurrection were told in such circles it
was inevitable that they should take forms typical in these
cults. The hero-cults likewise furnished a type of cult nar-
rative toward which the story of Jesus was attracted.

Ceremonial was an influence in this connection, since it
was an early development in the emergence of Christianity.
The sacramental character of the eucharistic meal obtained
early; in this ceremony the dramatic representation of
Jesus' death was central. The cult meal was a pole about
which stories of Jesus early began and long continued to
cohere.

Even relatively late New Testament sources show many
different interests in their references to Jesus' death. They

\

70 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

attempt to fix the responsibility for it: Luke- Acts tells that
Peter and Paul with more than one strong thrust of polemic
repeatedly attach the blame upon the Jewish people. It is
not likely that the speeches carrying this theme have any
likelihood of historicity, but they illustrate the fact that the
story of Jesus' death was told with polemical interpretation.

Polemic is also found in many of the gospel pericopes.
The story of Jesus and his followers walking through the
grainfields, the while preparing grain for food, with objec-
tion from opponents and defense by Jesus, is an example.
This story has as its central element the saying about the
sabbath being made for man, not man for the sabbath.
Dibelius and Bultmann both regard it as primitive, a peri-
cope which arose in a Palestinian community. There are
several other polemical stories. 12 This interest found its way
into the gospel materials very early.

While it is a far call from the earliest pericopes to the final
forms of the gospels, at relatively early times stories of Jesus
came into use in the propagation of the Christian movement.
They grew into the traditions because they were useful.
Dibelius believes that the primitive stories were used in the
early mission preaching. 13 It cannot be doubted that the
competition which advocates of the new movement met in
their enthusiastic efforts would make relevant just such
stories as the gospel materials contain.

For example, competition would be furnished by the mys-
tery cults, each of which had its cult legend of the death
and the triumph over death of its cult Lord. Again, a popu-
lar competitor was the healing cult of the hero-god Aeskle-
pius. What would be more natural than for the stories of
Jesus as a healer to be reported in response to similar stories

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 71

told of Aesklepius? In such a way competition accounts
for much of the content of the gospel materials.

Another element, less primitive than these motives, must
be observed. It appears as one notices the difference between
Pauline and non-Pauline Christianity. It is the rise and
growth of teaching of Jesus. It has already been pointed out
that this interest was developed in non-Pauline Christianity.
For the gospel materials witness the fact that not all early
Christians found charismatic inspiration congenial or suffi-
cient. The didactic materials of the gospels arose as certain
sections of early Christianity found themselves faced with
the necessity of discovering new patterns, norms and sanc-
tions for the guidance of cult members. To be sure, ques-
tions about the moral life presumably arose in the cults sec-
ondarily to the early stages of evangelization. But ethical
questions emerged soon. The Pauline letters prove this;
hardly had a community been evangelized and a house-
church founded when moral problems arose.

It must be remembered that in the early stages of the
movement the cults of Jesus were not consciously " Chris-
tian." Their particular character was something yet to be
achieved. Either the cult members would be characterized
by their common habits and customs, or some otherwise de-
veloped standard must be imposed. Doubtless for leaders
who were Jewish it would be natural to urge the code which
was familiar in the circle in which they had been brought up.
Or, if they were not Jewish, leaders might inculcate such
xj other code as that to which they were accustomed. In what-
ever case it was necessary and inevitable, if the cults of Jesus
were to achieve their own individuality, that they must de-
velop their particular morality.

72 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

It is possible to observe certain of the steps by which their
moral attitudes; which came to be regarded as " Christian,"
grew up. The materials of the gospels represent stages in
this process. For the gospels may be viewed as articulations
of ways of life which were crystallized into norms and pat-
terns by the experiences of the cult members in their group
relationships. That they were ascribed to Jesus as his " teach-
ings " (it should be remembered that the term implies a mod-
ern interest which was foreign to the gospel writers) was to
secure sanction for them.

The gospel materials, when viewed in terms of their units,
are of varying dates, or of varying levels of primitivity.
There were several stages in their growth. By the time the
gospels assumed their present forms a large mass of materials
was available for their writers. The growth of these mate-
rials, however, goes back to the earliest stages of the emer-
gence of Christianity. The gospel materials, considered as
such, take the student to the pre-gospel stage of develop-
ment, since, obviously, the gospel materials antedate the
writing of the gospels as such.

The picture which the student should have in mind is that
in the days before the gospels the advocates of the cults of
Jesus had at their disposal a large repertoire of stories about
the Lord of their cult, stories which from early times were
of several types. These were used for purposes of evangelistic
propaganda, for the advancement of the cults, for effecting
their expansion into new localities, for inducing new mem-
bers to adhere to the cults, and for furnishing moral guidance
in the lives of members as the cults assumed more definite
corporate form. Undoubtedly the early preachers knew and
used many stories and sayings which are not preserved in

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 73

any of the streams of tradition known to subsequent Christi-
anity; the popular tales of the " heretical " and the " apocry-
phal " gospels are examples. Much which was once in the
tradition failed to be preserved.

It will also be kept in mind that in the early stages of the
evolution of the gospel materials they were transmitted
orally. It is a primary emphasis in the newer work on gospel
origins that the materials assumed fixed form (as did folk
tales) while they were spoken.

The materials were presently collected; or, rather, they
began to cohere. Several items of stories or sayings of a
given form, e.g., polemical stories, parables, miracle stories,
grew into groups. From this it was but a step to their reduc-
tion to writing; there were gospel sources before there were
gospels. This was a relatively late stage in the process, of
course. However, at certain points in the evolution of the
gospel materials they grew into sufficient volume and aggre-
gated together so that their character as sources may be ob-
served. In some cases varying levels of primitivity may be
perceived, so that some may be recognized as earlier, some
as later.

If the gospel materials and, later, the gospels, owe their
production to non-Pauline Christianity, it is fortunate that
there was sufficient difference among types of early Christian
living to have caused the production of gospel materials,
their growth into gospel sources, and, finally, the appearance
of gospels. Basically it was the development of other than
charismatic methods of dealing with moral living which
caused the rise of gospels. Opposition of one cult legend to
another, citation of Jesus as cult hero or redeeming god,
identification of him as Anointed such later impulses as

74 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

these are next seen. These led to further growth of materials,
to the evolution of sources, and to the production of gospels
as such.

THE GOSPEL SOURCES

The ultimate materials of the gospels, as was shown, con-
sist of the numerous stories and sayings which the gospels
contain. Undoubtedly there were many such which did not
find their way into the known gospels. The saying, " It is
more blessed to give than to get," is an example; the sayings
of the papyri, introduced by the simple formula, " Jesus says,"
are further instances; the pericope about the man working
on sabbath in the Codex Bezae and the stories of the apocry-
phal gospels illustrate the wider currency of the materials.

The early Christian preaching was marvelously creative;
it was prolific in the production of gospel materials, as is
shown by the unique items in Luke-Acts and the Fourth
Gospel. The processes which produced the gospel materials
were operative from an early time. In their variety many
different items of a number of forms came into use. Fur-
thermore, the processes were continuous; the influences
which were at work were steadily and fruitfully operative.

The first phase of the process, i.e., the production of the
gospel materials, the pericopes of the present gospels and the
many such materials of lost gospels or materials which did
not find their way into gospels, was followed by a phase in
which the materials began to be collected, or to cohere to-
gether. The crystallization of stories of Jesus' death and
resurrection early led to the growth of passion stories. 14 The
polemical stories similarly tended to adhere. 15 The fourth
chapter of Mark is a collection 16 of parables with suitable

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 75

narrative setting and conclusion; one may see how such a
collection grew by comparing the group in Matthew 13. The
interest in the end of the age caused an assembly of sayings
in Mark 13; this was doubtless a source. 17 The process of
growth may be seen, again, by comparing with this the forms
which it assumed in Matthew 24 and Luke 21.

It is a common judgment that the later gospel writers knew
and used Mark; that Mark is both a gospel and a gospel
source. The differences between Mark and parallels to Mark
in Matthew and Luke are instructive; if, indeed, it was Mark
(as distinct from pericopes of which Mark was composed),
the manner in which Mark was used gives much information
of the use of gospel sources. When the consummate artist
who produced the work which is feebly called Luke-Acts
remarks in his conventional preface that by this time " many
had taken in hand to draw up accounts " it is idle to specu-
late whether he had gospels or merely gospel sources in
mind. To be sure, the data found when Luke-Acts is com-
pared with Mark, Matthew and the Fourth Gospel point to
the use of sources. Can one see how these grew ?

It should be observed, as a prefatory remark, that too much
has been made of the gospel sources in scholarly research.
Orj to put it otherwise, wrong use has been made of the ap-
pearance of gospel sources as a phase of the evolution of gos-
pels. It has been tacitly assumed that when sources have
been identified, and when it has been shown that a gospel
writer used these sources in the production of his work, the
full story of his task has been told. It should be seen, on the
other hand, that this carries the study of the processes only
to an intermediate stage; it still remains to show how the
sources were produced.

76 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

Another effort which has had but inadequate result is the
effort to " reconstruct " gospel sources. While the proba-
bility may be established that the writer of Matthew used a
" peculiar " sayings source, it is by no means certain that the
source may be completely identified. It is highly probable
that the writer of Luke- Acts used an individual source in his
telling of the Passion Story, but it is highly conjectural to
assert what its original form was.

Errors of detail in the criticism of gospel sources have been
perpetrated. The judgment that an attempt to delineate the
contents of the hypothetical " Q " resulted in " a heap of in-
teresting ruins " may now be applied to the entire movement
represented by the two document hypothesis. 18 It is pathetic
that the several scholars who devoted many years of effort to
" reconstruct " the non-Marcan source supposed that in plac-
ing this " document " beside Mark they had solved the
synoptic problem. Undoubtedly it was a step in advance
when it was shown that the sources of the gospels were sev-
eral in number, rather than two. But again, it is regrettable
that years after the original discovery was made a conserva-
tive theory of four sources, rather than the distinctive theory
of multiple sources, was the one which found widespread
acceptance.

Another source theory which is accorded more serious en-
tertainment than it deserves is the abstraction that underlying
the extant gospels were Aramaic (and Hebrew) gospels or
gospel sources which were merely translated by our gospel
writers. 19 Perhaps the major reason why this conjecture has
been entertained is that Aramaic is not widely known by
New Testament scholars, so that any considerable exhibit of
Aramaic statistics is sufficiently impressive that competent

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 77

scholars are sometimes disinclined to criticize it. However,
the hypothesis is rejected by scholars of unquestionable criti-
cal acumen and ability. 20 When subjected to thorough test,
its faulty logic 21 seriously undermines confidence, and it is
shown to be only a curiously conservative abstraction which
fails to meet the requirements set forth by the historical
study of Christianity.

For what is desired in the study of the growth of gospels
is knowledge of the processes by which Christianity itself
grew. The ultimate units of the gospel traditions were pro-
duced by a variety of motives. Some had their source in the
historical Jesus. These are definitely Jewish in character.
Others were produced in the religious living of members and
adherents of the cults of Jesus ; of these some exhibit Jewish
characteristics, while others are shown by their nature to
have been produced in Hellenistic communities.

It is of fundamental importance that while certain of the
gospel materials were produced in Palestine, and that while
some of the tendencies toward the aggregation of these ma-
terials may be observed at this stage, the gospel as. such was
the creation of the Hellenistic communities. zz This is in
line with the recognition that important processes operated
in the expansion of Christianity to occasion the transition
from the telling of stories about Jesus to the Writing- of col-
lected materials which were ascribed to him. These were
highly important processes in Christianity's growth. One
may interrogate the aggregated materials and thus discover
the processes.

It has long been observed that Mark is the earliest gospel.
It is plain that no source, either of Mark or of a later gospel,
has the characteristics of a gospel. Gospel sources were ma-

78 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

terials of which, with others, the gospels were made. Unless
Mark itself is an exception, 23 the sources lacked the essential
nature of gospels. 24

In " reconstructions " of " Q," of " Proto-Luke," and of
the hypothetical documents of the Burton-Goodspeed theory
some inspection of these materials may be made. What im-
pression do these alleged documents make ? The judgment
may be offered that such work as has been done upon them
indicates that the strongest case may be made for the peculiar
sources of Matthew and Luke, i.e., the " Matthean " docu-
ment of Burton-Goodspeed and Streeter, and the " Jeru-
salem " source of Burton-Goodspeed. 25

The latter source illustrates the point that the Passion
Story contains the oldest and newest elements of the story
of Jesus; additions were constantly made to its materials.
It is rewarding to inspect the materials characteristic of this
formulation. These include elements which apparently arose
in response to a number of interests of the people for whom
they were included: political, cult, and other institutional
interests.

Political interests, to note these first, are reflected in the
particular references to the fall of Jerusalem and in the
unique story of the review of Jesus' case by Herod Antipas,
with the note that its issue was the renewal of friendship
between Herod and Pilate. These items carry the lively in-
terest in political matters which characterizes Luke-Acts
throughout.

Cult interests in the so-called Jerusalem source are found
in the important additions to and changes of the Marcan
form of the story of the eucharistic meal. The Lucan story
goes far toward the point reached by the Fourth Gospel, in

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 79

which the event is not the Passover meal at all. In Luke-
Acts it is treated as a proleptic observance of the Eucharist.
It is striking that reference to Peter's denial is worked in,
with its expression of the hope that the sorry tale may es-
tablish the fate of others; 26 the use of the Eucharist to
strengthen the wavering in situations of persecution, so effec-
tive in later times, 27 is significant as appearing thus early.

The institutional interests of the source center chiefly in its
rational explanation of Jesus' death. This is made in several
ways. First, in the story itself much of the tone of the
Fourth Gospel is present: Jesus is pictured as much less con-
trolled by outward forces, much more as master of his situa-
tion. He always carries himself with dignity, even when he
. suffers indignity. The most distinctive feature is the ex-
planation given by the resurrected Jesus himself; he makes
all plain by showing his followers how to understand Scrip-
ture. This witnesses a line of activity which was in rapidly
widening use: the pragmatic use of Scripture to explain
things developed the institutional use of a whole body of
literature.

A study of the peculiar " sayings source " of Matthew of-
fers certain suggestions. First, the didactic nature of the
materials implies, at least from the view of social history, that
the needs of its readers or hearers were such as to call forth
the document. Second, the materials include several types
of teaching, the direct discourse (in which the evangelist's
hand as editor may be seen), the parable, and miscellaneous
sententious logia. The inference is that several forms were
developed in different sections of growing Christianity.

The content of the materials is informing. Vital needs of
the early Christians are observable. Anti-Jewish polemic is

8o EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

obvious, clearly showing that competition of cults of Jesus
with Jewish communities largely accounts for the form and
substance of many of the elements of the source. The po-
lemic is both practical and theoretical; practical in that many
of the elements of the crystallizing " Christian " ways of life
were determined in conscious opposition to Jewish practices.
For example, the members of the cults are expected to give
alms, to pray and to fast, but differently from the ways in
which members of synagogues did these things. Theoretical
anti-Jewish polemic is found in the several parables, the
theme of which is the displacement of Jews in favor of the
true Judaism represented by the cults of Jesus, e.g., the stories
of the several shifts of workmen and of the obedient and the
disobedient sons.

Certain important characteristics of emerging Christianity
appear in the source. Most important of these is the teaching
about the church. It is significant that the most explicit con-
sciousness of the church which is to be found in the gospels
appears in the Matthean gospel, in the sections of the peculiar
source. These carry the well-known Petrine interest, a dis-
tinctive feature of Matthew and of the source. The data wit-
ness the readily perceivable fact that the growth of the church
was a long process which began early and was largely based
upon the religious experiences of the people who were its
members and its public. In the conception which appears as
this gospel writer edits his source, the church is relatively
highly institutionalized, even to the point that it functions
in its disciplinary capacity. Evidently the materials of the
source, even though it be thought that the gospel writer al-
tered them in his editorial work, reflect the play of forces
which created the church.

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 81

It is perhaps unnecessary to discuss other alleged sources
in detail. To be relieved of this necessity is particularly
welcome in the case of the non-Marcan materials paralleled
in Matthew and Luke, e.g., the so-called Perean Document.
The materials of this area are so extremely miscellaneous
that it is difficult to convince oneself where a given source
begins and ends. In fact, it was an open question in the
minds of the authors of its basic theory whether the Perean
source was one or many. However this may be, facts ob-
servable in analyzing other sources are to be found in these
materials, whether they be of one or a number of sources
which are not identifiable. One illustration may be cited.
This concerns the bringing to convenient contexts in this
area, of divers sayings the theme of which is the bearing of
the believer in situations of persecution. It will be remem-
bered that such a pericope is found in Mark (13 19-13) . This
interest brings into the gospel story what are, in effect, doub-
lets of this pericope (Matt. 10:17$, Lk. 12:1 iff), and still
other materials as sayings which abound in quasi-technical
terms of confession and denial. These sayings are parts of a
compiled " discourse " in the source, the theme of which is
the direction of the early propagandists of the cults of Jesus.
They point to the expectation that opposition will be en-
countered.

It is thus implied that the experiences of the missionaries
are the ultimate basis of the teachings which stand in the
sources. An instructive detail is contributed by the saying
that Jesus came, not to " throw " peace but a sword, that
family dissension is to be expected, and that the final test in
such a situation is whether the ultimate loyalty will be to
the cult Lord. This is required, even in the shadow of the

82 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

cross (Matt. 10:34-39, Lk. 12:51, 53; 14:261"). These sayings
show that in the period of growth which they represent,
Christianity was a disintegrating force. In other words, the
scene is such a situation as that faced by Paul when he had
to deal with the trend toward the breakup of families in
which only one partner was a believer. When so viewed, the
vividness of the gospel sources cannot be missed. The use-
fulness of interrogating this stage of the growth of the gos-
pels is unquestionable.

Illustration from quite a different area of tradition may be
made. The birth and infancy stories of Matthew and Luke
doubtless represent later and different trends which operated
in the periods of the gospel sources. Certainly they represent
Hellenistic interests, for the Jewish repugnance to the idea
of God generating children precluded the production of
such stories in Jewish milieux. The development repre-
sented by the birth stories shows that the cults of Jesus in
which they arose and were current were making determined
bids for allegiance in gentile circles.

Perhaps of greater importance is the complementary sug-
gestion that the processes which produced these and other
similar stories (called " myths " and " legends " in form
criticism) witness the interest in filling out the details of the
story of Jesus' life. Undoubtedly cult interests were the basic
motive of the development of biographical data in the gos-
pels. The need of telling the story of the cult hero's life was
present in circles where the cults of Jesus competed with
hero and mystery cults in the Hellenistic world. It is an
interest which accounts for much of the content and the form
of the gospels. That the stories which it produced resemble
certain elements of the apocryphal gospels should occasion

NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS 83

no surprise. The fact merely emphasizes their Hellenistic
quality and relative lateness.

These, then, are the major results which come from the
search for gospel sources. Since at this point attention has
been directed chiefly to the vital processes indicated by the
basic interests of the materials, it is well to consider the more
mechanical side, and to ask what may be said of the aggrega-
tion of the pericopes into collections and sources.

In addition to the practical effect of cult and polemical
interests as impulses to the collection of materials on given
themes, similarity of the form of materials of any theme
doubtless caused the coherence of pericopes. For example,
the identity of form probably accounts for the contiguity of
the wonder stories in the early chapters of Mark, as it does
for the aggregation of the polemical stories in the same area
or of the parables in Mark 4. The materials were thus made
readily available, and their superior availability for use in
teaching may well have occasioned their grouping.

It is a fair question to ask what was the degree of fixity
attained and maintained in such aggregations. It is un-
doubtedly significant, for example, that in his use of the
Marcan source the writer of Luke-Acts made no essential
change in the order of sections up to 8 3 of his work. It is
often generalized from this that he treated all his source ma-
terials in this way, i.e., incorporating them in blocks without
altering the order of individual pericopes. To be sure, one
may not confidently assert this, since there is no way of " con-
trolling" his procedure. On the other hand, the inference
gained from the Matthean gospel is to the opposite effect.
It seems from the fivefold formula at the end of the major
" discourses " of this work that the evangelist combined and

EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

compiled materials from several sources to make up his own
aggregations of didactic materials. Again, if the peculiar
materials of Matthew are regarded as indicating a source, the
processes of the gospel writer in compiling dispel the hope
that the original order of the pericopes is to be seen in what
the evangelist has done while incorporating them.

Similarity of form and convenience of subject matter for
the use of the early Christian teacher largely account for the
particular shape which the gospel materials assumed as they
grew into the gospel sources. Much is to be learned from
them of the religious life of the cult members. In the prolific
addition to the volume of the gospel materials which they
represent one sees a constant evolution of these materials as
the ever enlarging horizons of expanding Christianity are
observed.

It would be a mistake, however, to conclude that the growth
of gospel materials into gospel sources alone will enable the
student to understand all the processes of the development of
Christianity. The confidence in the discovery, identification
and reconstruction of gospel sources as the essential clew to
the understanding of the nature of Christianity or of the
growth of Christian literature is misplaced. The periods of
the gospel sources are some of those in which many varying
needs of the early Christians were being met, but they
were periods which belong to what has aptly been called
" the plastic age " of the Christian movement. The attain-
ment of quasi-permanence awaited the formidable experi-
ences of the gospel-making period and after.

PART TWO

THE GOSPEL-MAKING PERIOD

VI

THE GOSPELS

V^hristianity had a remarkable growth in the gospel-making
period. The effect of its broad geographical spread was pro-
foundly felt. To be sure, even in the days of evangelization
its horizons quickly broadened, and the character of the
movement was affected by this fact. But now the fullest
effect of environment is to be seen. It is generally agreed
that the earliest gospel reflects a Roman situation. There is
some consensus that the later gospels represent Antiochene,
generally Aegean, and Asian Christianity. If so, much may
be learned as the gospels are studied for the light which they
throw upon the emergence of the Christian movement in
these centers as Christianity was consolidating.

The gospels reflect religious trends of a movement whose
future, dubious in the earlier days of fortuitous evangeliza-
tion, is now assured. Faced first by the problem of survival,
faced next by the necessity of developing distinctive charac-
ter, and constantly under the difficulty of making its way
in competition with older and established cults, Christianity
now met its task with confidence, neither hesitating to criti-
cize its rivals nor shrinking from advancing its own claims.
Always under the danger of suppression by the State, since
its societies were without legal right to exist, the problems
precipitated by this fact were faced, and out of practical ex-
perience modes of meeting them were discovered.

87

88 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

The non-gospel sources for the study of the gospel-making
period are also highly informing. It is customary to regard
" The Acts " apart from the Lucan gospel, in spite of the
fact that it is the second volume of a two-volume work, and
as such ought to be considered as a part of the whole which,
together with the gospel section, it makes. Even when
studied apart it is to be considered as a source for the study
of the gospel-making period. Second, as has been pointed
out, it was during this period that the Pauline letters were
collected and published as a volume. Their function as a
corpus, particularly in the light of the introductory covering
letter, makes their information relevant for the study of
the gospel-making period. Third, the so-called Epistle to the
Hebrews and the Revelation of John, both products of the
later years of Domitian, reflect the gospel-making period.
Finally, from the same period comes at least one extra-New
Testament writing; the " Epistle of the Church of Rome to
the Corinthians," commonly known as i Clement, adds data
for the study of the religious life of the Christians in ; the
days when the gospels were being written. It is possible,
also, that the work known as the Shepherd of Hernias should
be considered as a product of the gospel-making period; a
persuasive case has been made for the career of Hermas as
a contemporary of Clement, and it has long been thought
.that parts, at least, of Hermas are as early as the gospels.

To be sure, the time limits of the gospel-making period
are not to be fixed arbitrarily. Nor are they of ultimate im-
portance. The earliest gospel was written about the year 70.
But when the latest gospel was written is a question which
has received various answers. It is enough to remark that
the Fourth Gospel was written not much, if at all, earlier

THE GOSPELS

than the beginning of the second century, and not much
later than no. However, it is not important to fix a spe-
cific date for either limit. There is value in recognizing that)
special forces were at work in the gospel-making period, and
it is the task of the present study to learn what these forces
were and to observe the developments which occurred as
they operated. The dividing line between the sources for *
the gospel-making period and the earlier period is drawn,
not by date, but by the characteristics of the religious life
to be observed in the sources.

The developments which occurred in the religious life
during the gospel-making period were of permanent im-
portance in the subsequent growth of Christianity, particu-
larly in its achievement of distinctive character. It is of
greater importance to study these phenomena than merely
to make literary analyses of the sources which took shape in
response to these formative processes. The gospels have too
long been studied as though they appeared in a vacuum, or as
though their appearance was the acme of Christian achieve-
ment. It cannot be too strongly urged that the gospels, like
other Christian writings, were products of the religious liv-
ing of the early Christians, and not themselves ends.

It has been observed that there were essential differences
in the cults of Jesus in the several areas in which they were
to be found. The Palestinian communities were of course
the oldest, although early in the spread of the story of Jesus
extra-Palestinian communities came into being. But it is
unlikely that the Christian movement would ever have de-
veloped distinctive character if it had remained a Palestinian
movement. For while the members of the cults of Jesus in
Palestine had certain ideas and teachings which had come

90 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

to them from their response to the stories of Jesus, in their
religious living they seem not to have differed essentially
from other Jews; they merely added certain items to current
Jewish teaching. It was perhaps a decisive factor that some
of the Palestinian Jews were members of Greek-speaking
synagogues, for this made a bridge for the growth of a pub-
lic which responded to the stories of Jesus as these were
told in Greek, and thus became a step in the momentous
turn which was taken when non-Jews heard and responded
to the stories. It is difficult to infer whether the earliest Hel-
lenistic communities were adjuncts of dispersion Jewish syna-
gogues or were groups of non-Jews. 1 At all events, there
were Hellenistic communities from an early date. The viril-
ity of these communities 2 is to be seen from the fact that they
produced the outstanding leader that Paul proved to be, and
from the fact that apart from Paul cults of Jesus early ap-
peared at various important and strategic centers of Hel-
lenism.

These early cults consisted of groups of people who had
responded to the messages of preachers, messages which were
largely Jewish in content but which brought into being, at
least in the extra-Palestinian communities, types of religious
living which were thoroughly gentile. It was not long until
the frankly Hellenistic societies greatly outnumbered the
Palestinian. Hence it is easy to see why, and not difficult to
see how, Christianity developed its own characteristics in
extra-Palestinian milieux.

However, certain elements and trends in emerging Chris-
tianity were as much out of keeping in Pauline Christianity
as in Palestinian. Neither Pauline nor Palestinian Chris-
tianity was suitable soil for the growth of the gospels. It

THE GOSPELS 91

is true that in Pauline Christianity there grew up aspects of
the religious life which were essential before the life which
is exploited in the gospels could be given an articulated state-
ment; e.g., freedom from observance of Torah was basic to
many aspects of behavior characteristic of members of the
cults of Jesus. It is likely, too, that stories of Jesus were es-
sential in the Pauline preaching; certain emphasis upon the
death and resurrection was usual in it as in the gospel stories.
But the essential differences are plainer.

Palestinian Christianity had, indeed, its traditions about
Jesus. But it had no impulse to write them. 3 Doubtless in
these communities there was much use of orally propagated
stories; it was this fact which stamped upon the materials
such local color and Semitic quality as they have. But the
people of these communities, relatively few in number, had
a complete equipment for their moral guidance and their
institutional needs. They had their synagogues, their Scrip-
ture, and their patterns for living. They awaited, calmly or
eagerly, the messianic coming of Jesus. Probably this ex-
pectation marked them as different from those of their (Jew-
ish) brethren who did not share it; perhaps at times it won
for them the doubtful advantage of being "persecuted."
But writing was not usual in the circles in which these be-
lievers moved as it was among the societies which were Greek
in constitution; certainly not the writing of religious litera-
ture. It is well to emphasize the oral form of the stories of
- Jesus in the Palestinian communities. 4 This means that the
likelihood of written gospels or gospel sources by and among
these Palestinian believers is negligible.

In the Pauline communities, on the other hand, there was
no lack of habit of writing. Writing was resorted to for

92 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

every conceivable purpose, including religious propaganda.
Nevertheless there was a strongly inhibitive force which mili-
tated against the writing of gospels in Pauline communities.
The predilection for spiritistic behavior had a definite effect
upon the attitude toward Scripture generally and toward the

- writing of stories of Jesus in particular. Dependence upon
inspiration, normal in Paul's communities, was unfavorable
to the growth of written gospels. Further, the expectation
of the imminent coming of the Lord made the writing of
gospels unlikely.

.There was, indeed, a distinctive element in Paul's own
conception of religion which does not seem to have had a
counterpart in other Hellenistic circles. It is a curious fact
that Paul, although he was like other early preachers in
placing primary emphasis upon Jesus' death, had no interest

-in his life. If it be thought that Paul's letters approximate
his preaching, there was no place in the preaching for ref-
erence to, much less emphasis upon, Jesus' life.

This does not seem to have been true in non-Pauline Hel-
lenistic communities, nor, indeed, in the Palestinian. All
critics unite in agreement that certain elements in the gos-
pels go back to Palestinian communities. The conclusion is
inevitable that there was something in Paul's religion which
inhibited him from acquiring knowledge of, and from mak-
ing use of, stories about Jesus' life. To the extent that this
fact operated the Pauline communities were not those in
which gospels would appear.

It is a fair question, though quite speculative, whether
Paul's view in this matter controlled his communities. The
work of the teacher has been cited as a possible force in
bringing about collections of stories of Jesus, and thus the

THE GOSPELS 93

creation of what were in effect gospel sources. Now, the
teacher was present in Paul's churches. To be sure, in these
teaching was a spiritistic endowment, like prophesying, heal-
ing, and speaking in tongues. Even so, it is possible that the
teacher's work may have included the telling of stories of
Jesus.

But the question is more fruitfully raised when it is applied
to situations subsequent to Paul's death. It is well known
that not long after his death the churches in the very locali-
ties evangelized by him assumed quite different character
than that of the churches seen in his letters. Christianity in
these localities later became institutionalized to a point which
Paul would have repudiated.

It was in some of these localities that gospels were written.
Luke-Acts and the Fourth Gospel came from the very heart
of the Pauline territory. They were not therefore " Pauline."
Generally speaking " Paulinism " is at a discount in modern
scholarship. The abandonment of eschatology in the Fourth
Gospel, and the anti- Judaism of that work and of Luke-Acts,
are obviously un-Pauline. These works, as the gospel litera-
ture in general, show that the gospel-making movement was
uncongenial to the Pauline type of religious life.

The generally recognized Antiochene locale of the Mat-
thean gospel is evidence of non-Pauline or of un-Pauline in-
fluence. The difference of this work from Paul's religion is
commonly admitted. The Matthean gospel owes its being
to entirely different impulses.

The association of the Marcan gospel with Rome accen-
tuates the fact that non-Pauline communities produced the
gospels. This was a community which Paul attempted to
control in a measure, but Roman Christianity was not

94 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

\, Pauline. Thus there is only one conclusion possible: the
gospels owe their being to forces which are new in the
Christian movement; to un-Pauline and extra-Palestinian
forces.

The gospels were produced because the early Christians
encountered problems in their religious lives which could
not be solved by primitive methods of leadership nor in
primitive types of experience. They appeared because the
early Christians went forward to new and untried situations
in which their untrammeled freedom to experiment stood
them in good stead. Long since, the problem had been
settled which was precipitated by the question whether non-
Jews who believed must join the Jewish race so long since
that it is hardly reflected in the gospels. Long since, the
lead had been followed by which Jesus was regarded as more
than an apocalyptic messiah; he was to some a hero after
the pattern of Aesklepius, Herakles or Dionysus; to others he
was a dying and rising savior like Osiris, Attis or Mithra.
Like these gods, he had divine parentage, and during his
lifetime he had noble and heroic, albeit tragic, experiences.
He had done and said notable things, the stories of which
might now be told and written. Long since, there had been
religious societies which looked to him as their Lord and
offered divine rites to him. Cult practices of these groups
were of long standing, already explained and validated by
legends of considerable authority.

For some time members of Christian societies had been
finding that many aspects of their behavior had been influ-
enced and affected (the modern student would say, " condi-
tioned ") by their membership in groups. To be sure, the
original purpose of accepting Jesus was to effect the " salva-

THE GOSPELS 95

tion " of the individual who confessed him. But the sec-
ondary results were no less important. The heavenly Jesus
must secure for the believer security and welfare in this world
as well as assurance of welfare in the next. Problems of this
world constantly impinged upon the corporate life of the
religious group. Such practical questions as the propriety
of eating sacrificially slaughtered meat had been raised and
answered. Other questions, some of which doubtless were
forced by Jewish members or contemporaries, e.g., the right
way to keep sabbath, the particular code of dietary custom,
were of long standing and current relevance. Ethical ques-
tions became important as the societies became stabilized and
quasi-permanent and members began to discover that fellow-
ship in groups involved particular standards because of that
fact.

Analysis of the gospel materials shows clearly that a ma-
jor interest in the religious life of the early Christians was
developed by the necessity of explaining certain features of
their tradition. It was necessary to explain why Jesus died
as he did. And, as was shown, explanations were largely de-
rived from Scripture: it was foreordained. When it became
important to relate stories of events which occurred in Jesus'
life the same appeal to Scripture was made. Thus it was
shown that his work as a healer was an aspect of his life
which had long ago been foretold. Explanations of his na-
ture were similarly discovered: he was the spurned building
block, he was the Lord spoken of in the Psalm, he was the
"boy" (i.e., the house-servant) of Isaiah's message. The
same source of explanation assisted in finding reasons for
specific facts, as why Jesus was born in Bethlehem, why
he lived in Galilee, why he taught by parable. It made

96 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

meaningful his processional entry into Jerusalem and
so on.

Why was such assiduous use made of Scripture? Obvi-
ously a number of matters explained were embarrassing,
without explanation, either to Jews or to non-Jews. For ex-
ample, Jesus' death as a criminal by crucifixion was disgrace-
ful; to the Jew because one so executed was under a curse; to
the non-Jew because an executed criminal was an unlikely
person to be Lord of a cult. But in either case much of the
embarrassment was obviated by showing, as could be done
by pragmatic use of Scripture, that the event was not one of
guilt but part of the foreordained plan of God. Such an ex-
planation would have the further value to the non-Jew of
being guaranteed by antiquity. The efficacy of Scripture
quotation to the Jew was obvious. Its value to the Christian
was enhanced when he could thus show that a given ex-
planation was not merely the plain meaning of Scripture,
but the " fulfillment " of a veiled and hidden meaning which
had been concealed until the life of Jesus made it plain.

It must be seen, however, that there was a difference be-
tween the production of materials of the gospels and the
writing of the gospels themselves. The processes of evan-
gelization involved one set of problems, and these, by the
enthusiastic vitality of the early Christians, had been met.
The processes of definition and consolidation were of an-
other sort. The same creative vitality met these as well. It
was in the discharge of these important functions that the
gospels, as distinct from their materials, were produced.

The gospels proved to be effective means for the accom-
plishment of the purposes for which they were intended.
Indeed, it may be said that they represent a distinctively new

THE GOSPELS 97

adaptation of Christianity in the light of new problems.
While they were not the sole means available during the
gospel-making period (since the Pauline letters functioned
institutionally and other non-gospel types of writing were
then being produced) they were undoubtedly the new and
distinctive achievement in the growth of Christian literature.

The point is worthy of emphasis, since one is usually prone
to take the gospel form for granted. It must be brought
into consciousness that the gospels represented new and radi-
cally different trends in Christianity. This can be shown
clearly by pointing out that the use of the gospels was re-
sisted. Each gospel was a local affair, whose currency was
for a fairly long time limited to the neighborhood in which
it was produced. Thus one gospel competed with another.
Indeed, it was not until well into the second century that
there was achieved the conception that the gospel was one, 5
so that each one of the gospels was, in effect, the gospel " ac-
cording to " the writer of it. This conception of the four-
fold gospel was an achievement comparable in its impor-
tance to the discovery that the Pauline letters when read as
a whole have a message which is lacking when each is read
singly. Even though this conception later succeeded in fas-
tening itself upon common perception, it must be remem-
bered that until this became true it was the disparate sense of
each gospel which was felt.

But even when some leaders were rising to the conscious-
ness of the gospel as such there were others who were un-
changeably opposed to the use of written gospels altogether.
As shall be shown later, it is this point of view which largely
enables the correct use of the later books of the New Testa-
ment the fact that after gospels came into common use

EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

there was a perpetuation of the non-gospel type of Christian
writing is not only significant but of prime importance.

The point is established beyond dispute when the wit-
ness of such an early Christian leader as Papias is observed.
Papias is chiefly known as the one who transmitted certain
tradition about the writing of the gospels. It Was he who
reported the saying of the "elder" about the writing of
Mark, who said that Matthew composed the oracles in " the
Hebrew language," and whose ambiguity in speaking about
" the elder " has so darkened counsel. It would be well if
the further statements of Papias were given similar atten-
tion, particularly that he (like others) preferred " the living
and the abiding voice " to what must have been the written
gospels. 6 It still remains, of course, a problem as to what
Papias meant by that phrase. The usual understanding
is that he meant oral tradition, the paradosis. It is possible
that Papias was a thoroughgoing primitive in preferring the
mode of spiritistic inspiration such as had been characteristic
of the Pauline communities. In any event, his statement
shows that there were circles in which the use of written
gospels was not common, and was, in fact, resisted. That
which is new is always likely to be resisted, and the gospels
were no exception to the rule.

Something of the sense of novelty in the appearance of the
.gospels is suggested by Bultmann's observation that while
some of the gospel materials were produced and collected
in Palestine the gospel as such was the creation of the Hel-
lenistic communities. The truth of this is seen as one in-
* spects the materials and the constitution of Mark. That this
gospel differs from anything which had previously developed
appears from the simple fact that no source which can be

THE GOSPELS 99

detected in it may be regarded as a gospel. What Mark
represents as a whole is something entirely different from
that which obtains when its contents are noted as parts.
Mark illustrates the familiar axiom that the whole is more
than the sum of its parts.

Further significance appears as the other gospels are stud-
ied. To what extent was the new form a norm of that which
followed ? Clearly the later gospel writers appreciated Mark,
for they seem to have made much use of it. But when it is
observed how Mark was used, it becomes apparent that it
was no norm for the later writers to follow. Aside from
the fact that each gospel relates stories of Jesus, giving major
attention to his death, exceptions rather than generalizations
are the rule. The Matthean gospel prefaces a genealogy and
a story of Jesus' birth and completely alters the story of Jesus
by giving primary attention to what Jesus taught, presenting
his materials in extensive discourses. When Luke-Acts is,
as it should be, viewed as a whole, the dissimilarity which
is emphasized by the current " Proto-Luke " theory pales into
insignificance as the Marcan contribution to Luke-Acts is
placed in its true perspective. The Fourth Gospel is closer
to Mark than is Luke-Acts. Still farther from the Marcan
norm are the apocryphal gospels. One must conclude that
the writer of Mark did indeed create something new, but
this new thing in the hands of others became a very fluid
medium.

The writer of Mark must then be regarded as a remark-
able innovator. He was, of course, familiar with a large
fund of tradition about Jesus, things which Jesus had " said,"
and with remarkably fine didactic narratives which had al-
ready become known as "parables," as well as stories of

ioo EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

what Jesus " did " the most distinctive feature of his own
work. It is probable that some of these had assumed aggre-
gate form before they came to his hand. But in the main
the materials were thoroughly disparate and miscellaneous.
The gospel writer made a distinctive contribution when he
saw the advantage to be gained by choosing from the total
fund the materials which he regarded as useful for his pur-
pose, assembling these materials, organizing them according
to the motifs 7 and patterns which he had developed, thus
making of these parts the remarkable whole which is the
earliest gospel.

To be sure, some steps in the process were simple. The
author had merely to add conventional phrases to individual
stories, such as "and he said to them," "and they came
to . . ," "and they went . . ," etc., and to place them in
narrative context. However, his work was not merely that
of mechanically placing where he chose the individual pe-
ricopes of his gospel. The most notable thing about the ear-
liest gospel is that it is conceived according to plan: the
author is presenting the tragic story of Jesus to readers for
its helpfulness in their religious lives. The important ele-
ments are equally involved: the needs of their religious lives,
and the author's conception of the tragic story. 8

He tells the story of Jesus as a spirit-endowed person,
whose life of great deeds was most beneficent in its service
to his fellows, not the least of whose gifts to them was the
example of a nobly austere religious life. The major fea-
ture of this, although there is the use of Jewish messianic
figures, is the deliberately accepted role of the persecuted
hero. The high point of the Marcan narrative is the recog-
nition scene in which the messianic identification is made.

THE GOSPELS 101

only to be followed by three cumulatively effective an-
nouncements of the tragic hero's death; the major theme
is then worked out in the relatively extensive story of the
self-accepted way of the cross. It is highly probable that
the fundamental conception of this gospel was valuable as
a practical illustration for those whose life must perforce be
austere because it was lived under the constant shadow of
potential persecution.

It is likely that the other gospels were written with simi-
lar motivation and according to similar processes. Their
writers, too, collected chosen materials from the total fund
which they knew and arranged them according to particular
purposes.

The writer called " Matthew " approximates the great bulk
of the materials which Mark used. In the main he supple-
mented these by compiling extensive discourses, which he
introduced at convenient places in the outline maintained in
Mark. However, he sometimes incorporated sources without
editing away certain of their characteristics, even though
some of these were inconsistent with certain of his favorite
ideas. Broadly speaking, the author of the Matthean gospel
labors to picture Jesus as a second Moses, the giver of God's
true Law. He thus presents the religion which it was his
purpose to propagate as a new law. Naturally this involved
its contrast with the old Law, i.e., Judaism. Consequently
there is much and- Jewish polemic in Matthew. It is strange,
since this is so apparent, that Matthew has so long been re-
garded as fundamentally Jewish. It is only when certain
statements are emphasized by themselves that anything par-
ticularly Jewish appears in Matthew. This gospel says, for
example, that Jesus was sent only to Jews. But when this

102 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

and the few other such items are viewed according to the
modern emphasis upon the individual pericopes, when these
are counterbalanced by plainly Hellenistic elements, and
when they are further seen to be elements of sources from
which inconsistencies have not been edited away, no basis
remains for the judgment that Matthew is a Jewish gospel.

Essential anti-Judaism is seen plainly in the Matthean gos-
pel in its contrast between the religious attitudes and acts
deemed by its author 9 to be right and those of " the hypo-
crites of the synagogues," the " scribes and Pharisees," and,
as they are once (28:15) astonishingly called, "the Jews."
It is hardly less apparent as the theme of displacement is
worked out in several parables (the several shifts of work-
ers, 20:1-16; the two sons, 21:28-32; the unworthy tenants,
21:33-44; the impressed guests, 22:1-14), Much of the sub-
stance of these materials is theological, but actual conditions
of the religious life may also be seen. What is especially to
be noted is that while Jewish legalism is severely criticized,
the religion which the gospel propagates is itself definitely
legalistic.

However, Jewish legalism is not the only religious atti-
tude criticized by the writer of Matthew. Non- Jewish reli-
gionists are not less sharply pilloried (" After such things as
these the gentiles seek," ". . . the gentiles ... do not be
like them," 6:32, 7). The Matthean gospel represents a
group independent both of Jewish and gentile cults.

All this is written plainly over the Matthean gospel. The
really notable aspect of the work is its didactic content. This
is the important feature, not merely as an aspect o structure,
but as the didactic is viewed functionally. This approach ex-
hibits the status of the Christian movement which is indi-

THE GOSPELS 103

cated by the significance of its ethical teaching. In the di-
dactic of Matthew one may observe several elements of the
process by which the religious life of the community has
become, or is becoming, "Christian." Its members now
have their own ways of celebrating cult services, or perform-
ing moral-religious acts of devotion, liturgy and charity, and
it is one of the major purposes of the gospel writer similarly
to articulate standards of behavior which may likewise char-
acterize the people of the cult. Thus, both in relation to
rival religions and in the achievement of the religious life of
individuals of this group, " Christian " ways of life have be-
come distinctive.

To be sure, it is the intellectual conviction of the gospel
writer that his group thus realizes the essential features of
true Judaism. This is doubtless why he presents his reli-
gion as law. Likewise he presents Jesus as God's Anointed,
as "King of the Jews," and assiduously he cites Jewish
Scripture for its evidential value. However, he consistently
maintains an objective attitude toward Judaism. He causes
Jesus to warn his followers against the leaven, which he
takes pains to define as the teaching of " the Pharisees and
the Sadducees" in effect, of Judaism. In the same dis-
course in which he causes Jesus to pronounce a validation
of Pharisaic teaching (23:3), apparently without noting the
contradiction of this with the warning against Jewish teach-
ing, he no less strictly makes the point that the Jewish
teachers fail to do what they teach.

The matter is put positively, also. Jesus is moved to pity
as he considers the people as unshepherded sheep. He has
a mission for Galilee of the nations. He finds the appeal of
a Greek woman to be irresistible. The limitation of mis-

104 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

sionary work to Jews is merely a prelude to a world-wide
mission in which all of the nations shall be evangelized. One
of the most striking of the didactic pericopes pictures the
judgment of all the nations; this does not necessarily imply
a universalism, but significantly it includes more than Jews.
Perhaps most explicit of all is the moral which is drawn as
the evangelist edits the parable, found in Mark and Luke
also, of the unworthy tenants. For he causes Jesus to say:
" The kingdom of heaven shall be taken away from you and
shall be given to a nation which shall bring forth its fruit."
These elements make it perfectly plain that the Matthean
gospel represents a religion which, while it utilizes certain
values of Judaism, is inclusive of non-Jews and now bids for
reception by any and all who may be interested. It is a reli-
gion which is now articulating its own ethic. It retains a
vivid apocalypticism in its teaching, but in its actual life the
cult is practically at home in this world.

The Matthean gospel is interested in integrating emerg-
ing Christianity within the Roman State. This interest had
some expression in the earliest gospel. But the greater abun-
dance of persecution sayings shows that this gospel goes
much farther than does the Marcan. Some of these sayings
are paralleled in Mark, but here they are used as doublets in
other contexts. Others are independent. The attitude rep-
resented in them is far from quiescent. This gospel pro-
poses that its religion shall be aggressively promulgated even
though State opposition is incurred.

In fine, the religion which is promoted by the Gospel of
Matthew is a virile religion, a religion which is far from its
infancy. It is capable of consciously deriving values from
older religions, as well as vigorously maintaining its own

'r

THE GOSPELS 105

values against theirs in polemic. It is a religion which has
taken over many values from its competitors, not hesitating
to assimilate and adapt elements of the Graeco-Roman reli-
gions. The obvious example of this is, of course, its incorpo-
ration of a story of Jesus' birth of a virgin by miraculous con-
ception. What is of the highest importance is that what this
religion has become, by growth from its slender beginnings,
by assimilation and by appropriation, is a religion with its
own individuality.

It has been sufficiently urged that in studying Luke-Acts
the two volumes should be used as parts of a whole, thus
overcoming the injury which the work suffered by its sepa-
ration into two books, which are placed, both in manuscripts
and in printed New Testaments, without even the advantage
of juxtaposition. The present study will practice the prin-
ciple of studying Luke-Acts as a unit.

So viewed, Luke-Acts is seen to tell a story which begins
with items about John as Jesus' forerunner and ends only
with Paul's pronouncement in Rome that the claims of
Judaism have been canceled in favor of the status of non-
Jewish believers. The purpose of the writer relates to this
entire story. It is a great loss when attention is allowed to
drop with the story of the raising of Jesus from the dead;
the story does not end, nor should it be interrupted, here.
The purpose of Luke-Acts as a whole must be apprehended. 10

It may be remarked that the processes of the writing of
Luke-Acts were the same throughout the two volumes. 11
The Acts section, no less than the gospel section, was pro-
duced by the selection and use of so and so many pericopes
which had arisen as had the gospel materials. Indeed, many
phenomena found in the gospels are present in the second

io6 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

volume of Luke- Acts: parallel sections which can be exhib-
ited in " harmonized " parallel columns (e.g., the three ac-
counts of Paul's " conversion "), the occurrence of doublet
forms of the same story (Peter and the magus, Paul and
Elymas), use of sources (a letter, the " we sources "), 12 and
the compilation of discourses. Items effecting the purpose of
the whole are found in each part, e.g., Jesus and Paul are
pictured as ideal " witnesses " (or martyrs), particularly in
their several " trials." Special interests appear in both sec-
tions (foreigners, money, women, attitude toward the State).
Doubtless the bulk of materials available to the writer was
less in composing the Acts section than for the gospel sec-
tion, but the processes of their use were essentially the same.

When Luke-Acts is studied as the product of the gospel-
making period it exhibits emerging Christianity (one might,
indeed, speak of Christianity without committing an anach-
ronism) as not only thoroughly spread in the Graeco-Roman
world, but as integrated into this world. It is a religion of
such well-developed character that it unhesitatingly bids for
general acceptance and tacitly claims legitimization by the
State. In fact, it is a major element of the purpose of Luke-
Acts to show that Christianity, having of right succeeded
to all the privileges of Judaism, is entitled thereby to all the
benefits of an allowed religion. Such a conception indicates
a complete at-homeness in this world, a result of a now long
continued growth and a definitely accomplished solidarity.
It is significant that the Acts section reports that at Antioch
the disciples had come to be called Christians. The adher-
ents of the cult had achieved a name.

The traditions articulated in Luke-Acts, and appearing
there only, greatly enrich the fund of information about

THE GOSPELS 107

early Christianity. Significantly, these materials indicate an
extensive adaptation to gentile environment. Christianity
is presented, even in the " teaching of Jesus," as a salvation
cult. The author is fond of picturing in both sections epi-
sodes in which gentiles appear as heroes. Of greater impor-
tance is the fact that the articulation of moral and ethical
patterns is not only advanced in degree and fuller in content,
but is with reference to particular interests. For example,
Luke- Acts is especially interested in the problems of wealth
and poverty, and is characterized by still other humanitarian
interests.

The major characteristic of Luke-Acts is that its story is
conceived as a great whole, so that it proceeds from a grand
perspective. It is of much significance that the narrative be-
gins, not with a story of the birth of Jesus, but with a story
of the miraculous conception and miraculously attended
birth of John as Jesus' forerunner. The purpose of this was
to place the story of Jesus within Judaism, so as subtly to
subordinate Judaism to Christianity. In line with this the
story has for its main trend the report of Christianity's
expansion in the Graeco-Roman world, culminating with
Paul's presentation of it in Rome. This involves a studied
transference of the values and rights of Judaism to Christian-
ity. It is interesting that although they differ in their ways
of doing it, both Luke- Acts and Matthew shape their mate-
rials with reference to the displacement of Judaism in favor
of Christianity. Again, while the manner and the degree
of their reflection of gentile interests differ, both exhibit
Christianity in competition with gentile, as well as with
Jewish rivals. However, Luke-Acts much the more plainly
reflects contacts with the State. The evidence of this, natu-

io8 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

rally, is more abundant in the Acts section, but it is found
in both parts.

In comparison with the Matthean gospel, Luke-Acts gives
less attention to didactic materials relating to behavior. It
must not be thought that Luke-Acts was less interested in
these matters. Many of the data grouped by Matthew into
great discourses appear in different distribution in the gospel
section of Luke-Acts. But the Acts section assumes the same
ethical attitudes. There was purpose in these ways of treat-
ing materials. For example, the Fourth Gospel is not defi-
cient in its ethical standard; the more immediate purpose
which led its writer to subordinate the practical to the specu-
lative and transcendental interests explains his apparent lack
of interest in ethical teaching.

When the Christianity of the gospel-making period re-
ceives articulation in the latest gospel, its communal life is
plainly to be observed, even though it is not a primary pur-
pose of the work to exhibit it. The corporate development
of the movement is easy to see, especially as it is placed in
utter antithesis to Judaism. Between Judaism and the Chris-
tianity of the Fourth Gospel there is an impassable breach.
The fact is willingly accepted. The gospel writer tells the
story of Jesus as though the antithesis had been current in
Jesus' day; Jesus is caused to speak for the group as against
the Jews, " We speak of what we know, but you [the word is
plural] do not receive our testimony "; he is caused to refer,
like Pilate, to " your (sic) law."

But more significant is the fact that the greatest single dis-
tinctive aspect of the Fourth Gospel, the long discourse of
chapters 14-17, has for its object the guidance of the New
Community. When the full force of this is seen, the details

THE GOSPELS 109

fall into place. It is explained that Jesus must go away, but
that his followers must go on without him; when he goes
away the Paraclete will come and remain with them. They
are told that trouble and persecution will come, but that the
Paraclete will be their present defender. The world will be
hostile, but Jesus has overcome the world. Most important is
that the followers of Jesus must be in unity; they must be
one. Even though it is only in the Matthean gospel that the
word " church " occurs, the conception is to be observed in
the Fourth Gospel. Indeed, the conception is an advanced
one, as is patently indicated in the ideal of unity. The very
terminology requires one to compare the conception of the
church in "Ephesians." The wide outreach of the New
Community is more than merely suggested in the figure of
the sheep in other folds who must be brought into this fold ; it
is explicit when Jesus is caused to pray not only for his imme-
diate followers but for those who believe through their word.
Finally, the pronouncement of blessing upon those who be-
lieve without having seen Jesus makes the point unmistak-
able. The corporate achievement of Christianity is plainly
to be seen in the Fourth Gospel.

The same character appears in the fact that constantly ele-
ments are assumed without logical or narrative consistency.
For example, the cult interests are always important, but they
are not necessarily treated with reference to their rise or their
authentication by Jesus. The story of Jesus multiplying food,
one of the points at which the Fourth Gospel coincides with
the synoptics, is the peg upon which to hang a discourse.
The theme of the discourse is the necessity of eating the body
and drinking the blood of Jesus, which requires the sacra-
ment of the Lord's supper to make it intelligible. But as

no EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

they stand they lack narrative consistency. This is but one
example of a frequently recurring phenomenon. Of the
same sort is the fact that the death of Jesus is in view from
the beginning of the story. Again, the antithesis between
the Christian movement and Judaism is treated as though it
had obtained during Jesus' lifetime. So, too, the coming of
the Paraclete is carefully prepared for during his lifetime.
Unquestionably the Fourth Gospel reflects much of the status
of the Christian movement at the time of its writing, more,
certainly, than it reflects of the actual situations of its dra-
matic date. It is, as it were, a great work of art whose logic
is in such categories as preserve these elements from being
incongruities.

The more obvious characteristics which exhibit the reli-
gious life pictured by the Fourth Gospel are those which are
really metaphysical. These are carried by a highly individual
terminology. That they are thoroughly Hellenistic hardly
needs to be pointed out. They show that Christianity is
thoroughly at home in the Greek world, so that the story of
Jesus may be recast in terms which are in obvious contrast
to even that degree of Palestinian local color which is pre-
served in the other gospels. It should not be thought that
they indicate a high intellectual achievement; the Fourth
Gospel does not exploit a philosophy. To be sure, it repre-
sents a contrast with the synoptic gospels in a certain degree
of intellectualization. But it is a simple intellectualization.
The gospel was written to prove something. Thus the intel-
lectualization of the Fourth Gospel is one which involves
belief. Consequently its message is with reference to belief,
sin and justness; status is determined merely by belief, other-
wise involving moral relations not at all.

THE GOSPELS in

Such phenomena show that in the writing of the Fourth
Gospel some essentially different processes were utilized.
Here the stories of Jesus are not those in whose oral trans-
mission the form is given by naive repetition; in these the
form is achieved through reflection. Only a few of the stories
coincide with the synoptic gospel cycles. The major part,
more suitable to the symbolic effect of the discourses attached
to them, have come into the fund of new materials. Even
the story of the Passion is given individual turn in the inter-
est of reflection and symbolic interpretation, as is shown by
the story which causes the death of Jesus to coincide with the
slaying of the Passover victim.

It is true that the synoptic gospels also use stories for prag-
matic effect. But here there is an obvious maturity; an at-
mosphere in the narrative suggests that there is no immediacy
in the situations ostensibly related. The stories are types,
important for the interpretative words which accompany
them. It is a legitimate inference that the maturity is not
merely that of the gospel; it is of Christianity. The latest
gospel, like the earliest and all others, reflects the contem-
porary status which emerging Christianity has attained in
its time and place.

VII

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE OF THE
GOSPEL-MAKING PERIOD

At is of prime importance to remember that writings of
other than the gospel form were produced by the early Chris-
tians during the gospel-making period. The matter is im-
portant, if for no other reason than to correct the misappre-
hension caused by the common notion that the gospels were
regarded by the early Christians as they are by the modern,
to correct the erroneous impression that they were appreci-
ated above all else. The correct viewpoint must be reiterated
until it is firmly in the student's consciousness: the gospels
were one form of writing developed by the early Christians,
but they were one form only; before them were examples of
another type and beside them were examples of other types,
while after them many writings of the non-gospel variety
were produced.

There are four non-gospel writings of the gospel-making
period which furnish important information of the religious
life of the early Christians. The first, coming after the
appearance of Luke-Acts and closely dependent upon its ap-
^.pearance, is the collection for institutional use of Paul's
letters. 1 It was a remarkable discovery, made by some
otherwise unknown religious leader, that Paul's letters have
a different message when they are read together than they
have when each is read singly as a message to an individual

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 113

church. Together they have a message for all the churches,
or, indeed, for the " Church."

To be sure, much lies back of this remarkable discovery.
First, the movement of which Paul was a great, although not
the first nor the sole representative, had developed in certain
respects as Paul would have approved. He had no hesitation
in taking his message to non-Jews, and welcomed them into
fellowship when they believed without requiring them to be-
come Jews. Now the gentile character of Christianity was
an obvious feature. But such representation as the move-
ment had had among Jews, particularly in Palestine, had
dwindled until the number of Jewish believers was incon-
siderable and their influence narrowed and greatly lessened.

Second, as has been shown, Christianity had developed its
own characteristics. It had its own customs, moral patterns,
ethical standards, and its own ecclesiastical constitution as
well. It had a " Church " consciousness. Not merely the use
of the word in the Matthean gospel, but the development of
the theme of the guidance of the New Community in the
Fourth Gospel, and most particularly the plea in this work
for unity all these suggest explicitly the similar conception
in the so-called Letter to the Ephesians, the introductory
covering letter to the collected epistles of Paul.

Third, the collection of Paul's letters and their use as a
group indicates what has been observed elsewhere: the
growth of the institutional equipment in Christianity. This
is in no sense to suggest that the collected use of Paul's letters
gave them authority as Scripture. They were, none the less,
part of the institutional equipment of such churches as pos-
sessed copies.

It is in the advancement of the corporate sense of the

ii4 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

Christian societies that the particular standpoint of the col-
lector of Paul's letters is to be seen. Two features are appar-
ent. He has developed a formulation of teaching which is
essentially theological: he presents the developments which
have led to the present status of the Christian movement as
divinely ordered, so that it was inevitable that everything oc-
cur as it has. He has formulated an explanation of Jesus
which is comparable in the degree of its advance, in distinc-
tion from the more primitive reflections found in the letters.
He understands Jesus' nature with reference to the unfold-
ing of divinely controlled purposes. Second, he articulates
a conception of the church as an institution. This conception
has several instructive features. It is not merely that there is
a " high ecclesiology " in " Ephesians." It is that the concep-
tion goes far beyond anything to be found in Paul. The ap-
parent paradox is to be understood in the fact that the col-
lector of Paul's letters has articulated this conception as the
result of reflection upon the entire religious point of view
he has encountered in the letters which he herewith issues for
the instruction of the whole church.

Paul does not seem to have had any consciousness of " the
Church." He was acutely conscious of the churches. The
genius who published his letters as a book presents in his in-
troductory letter the generalization which came to him as a
gentile Christian who had read and been deeply influenced by
the letters. He has fundamental sympathy with Paul's con-
ception of religion, and lives a type of religious life which
was akin to that of the Pauline communities, although, of
course, it differed in such detail as was necessitated by the
more complex situations of the current Christian com-
munities.

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 115

It is a challenging fact that the perception of the church
in " Ephesians " is best understood when it is observed in the
light of the status of Christianity as it is seen in the Fourth
Gospel. As in this work, the necessity for unity is forced in
large part by the presence of sectaries believers must now
have a rational understanding, and not be blown about by
every wind of teaching. But most strikingly of all, although
it was perhaps written a few years earlier than the Fourth
Gospel, the introductory letter has an attitude toward the
relation of Jews and non-Jews which goes far beyond that of
the latest work of the gospel-making period. Indeed, the
attitude toward this question is a theoretical one. The de-
cided negative in the attitude of the Fourth Gospel is coun-
terbalanced by the coolly reflective explanation that it was
part of the effect of Christ that the wall between Jew and
non-Jew was broken down, the Law abolished, and the two
groups brought together in mystical union with Christ. The
fundamental element is very like Paul's attitude, but the
conclusion is hardly Paul's! For there is no reason to con-
clude that this beautiful relationship ever obtained. The
fact is reflected plainly by the Fourth Gospel and Luke-Acts;
" Ephesians " presents an abstraction of what might have ob-
tained, had the hopes of Paul been realized.

It is instructive, also, to use Luke-Acts as a perspective for
the study of " Ephesians." Much of what it has and is re-
quires Luke-Acts for its very being. For example, the pic-
ture of Paul (pseudonymously depicted), the prisoner for
the Lord's sake, the prisoner for the sake of the non-Jews, the
preacher far excellence to the non-Jews, and the Paul who is
one with the other apostles, missionaries and teachers. But
whereas Luke- Acts pictures Paul as finally wearied of giving

n6 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

" the Jews " another opportunity and another and another,
pronouncing their doom and figuratively opening the door
to the gentiles, " Ephesians " sees the house filled as the door
has long been opened. Thus there is no need longer to hold
the point against the Jews. Now the resultant constitution of
the group can be called " the commonwealth of Israel "
again, the fundamental element is Paul's, but the reality is a
development far removed from him.

The Christianity of " Ephesians " is that of a salvation cult
which is so similar to the mystery cults that the parallelism
goes far beyond mere terminology. The cult myth is under-
stood as a divine mystery. Its content now included a decen-
sus ad infernum (4 :8-io) . Cult practice is so fully developed
that ritual elements are referred to and liturgy is actually
quoted in snatches of hymns.

The practical problems reflected are in line with this status.
The contrast is emphasized between what the cult members
used to be and what they must be now (which, presumably,
was not exactly .what they were). They used to live as
pagans; now they must live lives of strict propriety. In all
this the author is proceeding from a Pauline basis in a later
situation. Thus it is in keeping that he greatly expands the
table of household duties which he found in Colossians. His
expansion is instructive as indicating the more complex situa-
tions of the Christian homes of his day. Significantly, he can
use the church as sanction for the pattern of the proper rela-
tionship between married people. It is a great secret, he
says, but he cleverly applies it, no doubt with effect.

The new elements in Christianity which are reflected in
the collected letters of Paul are not merely the items of the
so-called letter to the Ephesians. The most important new

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 117

feature is the fact that when published together they have a
message for the whole church. This is different from the
effect which accrues when each is read to observe its message
to the church to which it was addressed. "Ephesians"
merely generalizes this and sets forth the themes of the sev-
eral letters, as an overture announces the motifs of the music
drama. Inevitably specific purposes of separate letters are
submerged as new times and places have had their effect,
e.g., the introductory letter does not suggest that ecstatic be-
havior was practiced or desired. But great religious and theo-
logical generalizations appear in the restatement of Paul's
messages for the church of a new day.

On the physical side the collector, having assembled such
letters as it was possible for him to find, proceeded by arrang-
ing them in desirable form and subjecting them to such edit-
ing as he considered necessary. The order of the letters pre-
sents interesting problems; doubtless this editor, like the
Marcionite of whose work something may be learned, 2 ar-
ranged the letters in the order of their extent or bulk, by way
of exception placing (so the hypothesis supposes) "Ephe-
sians " at the beginning as the introductory covering letter.
But it is uncertain just how the order by size was determined. 3
Certain phenomena in Romans, for example, suggest that
this letter existed in more than one form, and therefore in
differing lengths. 4 Was it the first collector who appended
what is now chapter 16 of Romans to that letter? 5 Was it
he who " edited " the fragments of our 2 Corinthians into the
canonical letter? If so, was it he, actuated by a delicate
sense of fitness, who exscinded more or less extensive sections
from the " bitter letter " ? Probably it was he who placed the
familiar doxology at the end of the Corinthian correspond-

n8 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

ence, since 2 Corinthians probably formed the end of the first
of the two rolls required by the corpus. What further edi-
torial work did he do ? This is, obviously, a speculative ques-
tion which admits of no answer. However, it is well to re-
member that the text of the Pauline letters reached its first
fixation only toward the end of the first century.
There are three additional sources for the study of the reli-

vgious life in the gospel-making period. One is a homily
which has been denominated an " epistle," perhaps because
of the slight editorial work which was done upon it in sup-

\/plying a quasi-epistolary conclusion. One is a mosaic of
apocalyptic materials, much of which is Jewish, but the
whole greatly modified by the presence of certain Hellenistic

^elements which more than balance the Jewish aspects, and by
a prefatory collection of letters to seven churches together

s,with a general introductory letter to all" the churches. The
third is an " epistle " from the Roman church to the church
at Corinth, commonly known as First Clement, since it was
written by one Clement of Rome. These writings, like the
gospels, present information of the gospel-making period,
during which they were written.

Specific impulse from the political stress which was seen
in the gospels was the effective cause of the appearance of
these three writings. Political stress was fairly constant in
the time when all the sources of the gospel-making period
were produced. Naturally, as the Christian consciousness
developed during the decades when the gospel materials
were taking shape, the problems of the right attitude toward
the State became more acute. It is regrettable that lack of
definite information inhibits the detailed chronicle of the
processes by which the characteristic attitudes took shape.
There are traditions, but not only do these require critical

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 119

scrutiny, but the data from non-Christian sources are scanty
and dubious. At all events, the impact of pressure from the
State was being felt while the writings of the gospel-making
period were taking shape; this is to be seen in the gospel tra-
ditions, these non-gospel writings of the period, and in
Josephus 6 and the Ezra-apocalypse (not to mention the
Christian form of the Ascension of Isaiah).

The difficulty of determining a specific situation for the so-
called Epistle to the Hebrews accounts for the fact that
studies of this document are usually far below the quality of
scholarly work done upon other Christian sources. Nowhere
does the feebleness of quality appear more plainly than in
the failure to take into account the religious life exhibited.
There is a growing consensus that Hebrews reflects the per-
secution of Domitian, and, what is of prime importance, to
regard it in connection with i Clement. 7 The common judg-
ment that it also reflects Alexandrian culture also acts to hin-
der its study as a source of knowledge of the religious life,
since so little is known of Alexandrian Christianity. The
day is past, of course, when it is thought that the " Epistle "
was written " to the Hebrews." 8 There is general willing-
ness to abandon the tradition of Pauline authorship.

The keys to the understanding of Hebrews, and to its
proper use as a source, are three. First, a situation appears
when it is viewed in relation to the Domitianic persecution, 9
so that its information is added to that of Revelation and i
Clement. Second, the student is advantaged when he re-
gards the work as a homily. 10 Third, its character is largely
understood when it is observed that the work is largely
shaped by the processes of the religious life which were
characteristic of Alexandria.

With reference to its integration into Alexandrian life, a

I2O EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

number of features are to be noted. Most important is the
intellectualism of Alexandrian theology and the point of
view of Hebrews. The work cannot be understood until it is
perceived that its argument is highly academic. For exam-
ple, its use of illustrations from Judaism is in no sense rele-
vant to the actual aspects of current Jewish life; the long dis-
sertation on the tent in the desert proves this, as does the
reference to the Temple, which institution did not exist at
the time the document was written. Again, the rhetoric of
the homily points to Alexandria, and is, as the best com-
mentaries show, chiefly to be illustrated from Alexandrian
examples. Most plainly of all, the Septuagint quotations
point to Alexandria.

This does not necessarily mean that Hebrews was written
in Alexandria. Information of first century Christianity in
Alexandria is too scant to permit such an affirmation. All
that can be said with any probability is that Hebrews is an
address, chiefly concerned with strengthening the morale of
Christians in a situation of persecution, the address made by
a Christian leader whose literary gift was strongly condi-
tioned by Alexandrian thought and speech.

Such a generalization does, however, satisfy the necessities.
Christianity seems to have attained an intellectualization first
in Alexandria. Such as it was, it was articulated largely with
.reference to an abstract conception of Judaism. This, in
turn, was principally derived from a certain manner of using
the Greek translation of Jewish Scripture. Why these proc-
esses first occurred there it is difficult to determine. The fact,
however, remains. The " Preaching of Peter " " has been
characterized as the beginning of Christian apologetic. It is
reflected in the writings of Alexandrian leaders and appears

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 121

to have been Alexandrian; it, too, is chiefly occupied by state-
ments in which just such an abstract conception of Judaism
appears as is found in Hebrews. The so-called Epistle of
Barnabas, likewise Alexandrian in character, is concerned
with the defense of Christianity as a new law; its points are
made by similar use of the Septuagint.

Other aspects of Christian apologetic suggest what forces
acted to precipitate the defensive impulse. The writings of
Justin furnish an example. Here there are two themes:
Christianity is better than Judaism and better than the vari-
ous gentile cults; Christianity deserves recognition by the
State. It has been shown that these same elements are im-
plicit in the gospels and are all but explicit in Luke-Acts.
They are to be found in the gospels in varying degrees : in the
Fourth Gospel Christianity's superiority to Judaism appears
as obvious, while in Luke- Acts the case with reference to the
State is urged. In Justin's Apology and its supplement the
latter theme dominates, while in the Dialogue with Trypho
the former is primary.

It was these two interests which caused Christianity's early
articulation of its claims. Now, both these interests are to be
found in Hebrews. It urges that the cult of Jesus is better
than Judaism, developing the point by using literary and dia-
lectic methods. Likewise, but with more practical tone, it
gives reasons why the cult member's loyalty must be to Jesus
rather than to the State. Obviously the intellectual level of
this argument is lower than that of the former. This might
be expected, in view of its earlier date and the greater pressure
of the theme of tension with the State.

When Hebrews is thus viewed it is perhaps not surprising
that the apologetic document is a homily. For it is the voice

122 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

of Christian leadership which rings in Hebrews. It is an
eloquent voice, able to phrase its claims with elegance of.
idiom and sonority of period. It is a voice lifted in demand,
not in plea, that communities in places of responsibility must
lead in a time of crisis. It is directly argued that those ad-
dressed used to be heroic and must be heroic now. This part
of the message, at least, is not academic.

Hebrews is valuable for showing that Christianity in this
time and place has secured for itself spokesmen who are not
representative of the rather crude level of culture indicated
by the gospel materials. The culture of this leader exceeds
that suggested by the uneven literary quality of Luke-Acts.
Here is a spokesman who brings to Christianity's service in-
tellectual ability and achievement gained by study of Alexan-
drian literature.

Problems formerly handled purely practically by earlier
leaders are treated here with a stylized rhetoric and a gen-
eralized thoughtfulness which befit a cultured leadership.
Pressing problems are treated with elegance of expression.
The error in the usual study of Hebrews comes when the
elegance, the style, and the seeming abstractness are allowed
to detract attention from the actual situation which was im-
portant to the author of the written address. The correct
proportioning of these aspects should enable the discovery of
that crisis which brought forth a considerable literature a
literature which is more considerable than is generally sup-
posed.

The situation was one of pressure in which the persons ad-
dressed have been placed. Their group has faced such a
situation before, at that time with high credit. Now it is
feared that they are in danger of disintegration because of the

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 123

lack of aggressive, courageous and informed leadership.
The ultimate purpose of Hebrews is to urge the group ad-
dressed to rise to the occasion.

What was the occasion ? Who were the people addressed ?
It may be urged that the answer to these questions is found
when the evident relation of Hebrews and i Clement are
taken as the essential clew, and i Clement is seen to have
been called forth by Hebrews. This suggests that the homily
was addressed t6 a Roman group, which is thus being urged
to equal the heroism with which an earlier Roman group
met " persecution." The simple meaning would then be
that the earlier " persecution " was that terrible time when
Nero put so many Christians to torture and death. The
further point would then appear that i Clement was written
to show (among other things) that the Roman congregation
has not failed, but has been adequate to everything which
presented itself.

These suggestions have long been placed before scholars
for their consideration. It has been argued that the Domiti-
anic " persecution " called forth a large complex of Christian
writing, including not only Hebrews and i Clement, but also
Revelation, i Peter and Luke- Acts; as well as Josephus'
Antiquities and 4 Ezra by Jewish writers. This study
treats i Peter differently, as shall appear. But without it the
volume of Christian writing called forth by the stress of
Domitian's suppression is astonishing. It shows conclusively
that political situations were strongly operative in stimulat-
ing' Christian leaders to action.

Each of these writings exhibits a leader or leaders attempt-
ing to deal practically with whatever problems are precipi-
tated by strained relations between Christians and the State.

124 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

Each is the work of a leader or a group who felt that the
people of the community were under persecution or in
danger of it, and who saw that something must be done if
the situation was to be met with a degree of success. Differ-
ent leaders attempted different expedients. Some of these
may be observed in the several writings.

As has been shown elsewhere, the entire story of Christian-
ity's success in meeting the problems of persecution may be
told, and the processes observed in detail. For the present
purpose all that needs to be said is that writing was one
method of exerting control. 12 Certain forms of writing be-
came conventional. The most characteristic, and in some
ways the most interesting, of these literary types was the mar-
tyrology. This did not, of course, have its rise until the ex-
perience of persecution had become familiar. It could not
be expected that examples would obtain in the Domitianic
period. In this situation, as was shown, the Christians pro-
duced no less than four types of writing. Luke-Acts is an
apologetic narrative of the story of Jesus and of the wide ex-
pansion of Christianity. Hebrews is a written homily; Reve-
lation is a modified apocalypse; i Clement is an epistle.
Doubtless these examples of the several forms were produced
spontaneously, with little premeditation. The literary forms
had interesting later development. The Epistle remained in
use as a form of persecution literature. The apologetic tell-
ing of Christianity's growth grew into the formal Apology.
The Homily whose theme was that of exhortation to heroic
behavior in persecution appeared also later; interestingly
enough, one of the greatest of them was another Alexandrian
document, Origen's Exhortation to Martyrdom. The Apoc-
alypse was abandoned in favor of the Martyrology.

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 125

With this perspective it is not difficult to place the writings
of the Domitianic suppression into relation with their back-
grounds. It will not be regarded as strange if they are found
to contain elements which are not immediately typical. For
example, the problems of control in persecution are not the
only ones addressed in i Clement. This long work contains
many themes. The data of persecution account for several
" chapters " toward the beginning. Paul and Peter are cele-
brated as models in language which strongly suggests the use
of Luke-Acts. The reflections of Hebrews are plain in the
persecution sections and elsewhere; the reactions of the Ro-
man church to the challenge of Hebrews are clearly set forth.
But aside from persecution, a major purpose in i Clement is
the attempt of the Roman church to assert control over the
Corinthians in some matters of official church organization.
The Roman form of the ministry is asserted as against the
Eastern form, i.e., there must be separate orders of deacons,
elders and bishops, not merely two orders. Throughout
there is extensive use of Scripture, of course the Greek trans-
lation of Jewish writings. Sometimes a quotation occupies
an entire section of text; the writer's command of Scripture
(presumably quoted from memory) is amazing. There is
a long written prayer. Occasionally there is an unmistakable
ring of other Christian writings, including Pauline letters
and gospels. There are citations which appear like gospel
sayings but which do not correspond to our written gospels.
These used to be regarded as survivals of the oral tradition.
They may now be viewed as excerpts from gospel pericopes
in forms which came to the writer of the Epistle, differing
from the forms which were known to the gospel writers.
First Clement shows in its range of interests that the Roman

126 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

church speaks with ready acceptance of the challenge of
Hebrews, meeting its situation with dignity and (it may be
presumed) with success. While the letter does not have the
literary excellence which is found in Hebrews, on the whole
it is written in Greek of good quality.

The Revelation of John also exhibits varieties of interests
and departures from type. In the first place, unlike Jewish
apocalypses, it is presented in the name of its seer, without
the fiction of pseudonymity. As has been mentioned, it be-
gins with a non-apocalyptic letter group. While everything
in this section links with the remainder of the book in style
and diction, certain peculiar Hellenistic qualities appear in
the letter section. Most important is the fact that individual-
ism 13 of address is uppermost here, the refrain of the letters
is an appeal " to him who conquers," even though the letters
are addressed to church groups.

In the apocalyptic materials more properly speaking there
are further modifications of the apocalyptic form. The em-
phasis upon the distinction of the martyrs is an important
illustration. 1 * Their praise is sounded repeatedly in tones
which are much more similar to Hellenistic models than to
typical Jewish apocalypses. If the Johannine apocalypse is
compared, point by point, with the contemporaneous 4
Ezra, this difference becomes apparent. On the other hand,
parallels of this phenomenon in Jewish writings are found
only in those which are patently Hellenistic, e.g., 2 and
4 Maccabees.

Another instance is the use of Hellenistic literary forms. It
is an interesting fact, the details of which cannot be exhibited
here, that a number of the conventional elements of the
Greek drama are to be observed in the mlse en scene of

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 127

Revelation. For example, the twenty-four old men, in
number and function, parallel the chorus of the drama. The
Greek aspects of the cosmic pageantry of the apocalypse are
obvious. In content and in form the supposedly Jewish
Revelation is importantly modified by Hellenistic factors.

To be sure, it is probable that the writer of the book pro-
ceeded by using a number of sources which were funda-
mentally Jewish. Doubtless the cryptogram based upon the
number 666 is Jewish in all respects, including its being
based upon Semitic numerals. 15 A thorough analysis of
Revelation abundantly shows its author's familiarity with
and dependence upon a wide range of apocalyptic literature,
much of which came to him through Jewish sources. 16 It
was because the religious life of the group which he repre-
sented had become so thoroughly integrated in the Roman
world that he modified his materials as he did. Indeed,
John's revelation is no mere mosaic of apocalyptic sources.
This is shown not merely by the prefacing of the apocalypse
by a letter collection, but by the nature of his materials and
the manner of their use. Of them he made a work which is,
as a work of art must be, a magnificent whole. It is, so to
speak, a cosmic pageant or drama, in which a gigantesque
sequence of meaningful pictures is thrown before the eyes of
its readers (or hearers), with the result that they are influ-
enced to do what it is the object of the work to have them do.
This is, of course, to nerve them to refuse to participate in
the cult of the Emperor, and to inspire them to persist in
their refusal.

The messages of Revelation are all with reference to this
situation. Taken as such it is a remarkable book. It stands
in the whole development of apocalyptic as the last apoc-

128 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

alypse properly so-called to be written by a Christian leader. 17
From this time, in the history of Christian literature, apoc-
alyptic writing wanes. There is, to be sure, a document
which is called the Apocalypse of Peter, but it is in no particu-
lar typical of the apocalyptic form. It is a thoroughly Greek
work, as is indubitably shown by its conception of punish-
ment after death. Nor is the Shepherd of Hermas a true
apocalypse, although it is classified as such by ancient and
modern historians of literature. It is apocalyptic only as it
uses revelation as its epistemological method. It is the
Revelation of John which is the last Christian, as 4 Ezra is
the last Jewish, apocalypse.

The discontinuance of the apocalypse in Judaism and
Christianity was due to different causes. In the latter case
the reason unquestionably was the integration of Christianity
into Graeco-Roman life. Christianity became at home in this
world, so that the basic assumptions of apocalyptic were nega-
tived. Certain of these, or at least certain implications, per-
sisted: Tertullian could repudiate the world and deny the
possibility that the Emperor might be a Christian, but Chris-
tianity's progressive integration in this world continued.

In fine, as was seen in the evolution of the gospel materials,
so here, the same forces creating the religious attitudes of the
early Christians are to be observed. Their movement was in
competition with other religious movements in this case
with the cult of the Emperor and from conflict it was ef-
fecting its own solidarity. The suppression of Christians un-
der Domitian's provincial administrators was a potent force
in precipitating and crystallizing tendencies, attitudes and
teachings among the early Christians.

It is not in place to indicate here the steps by which the

THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE 129

issues took shape and the conflicts worked out. If it is a cor-
rect judgment that the stress of suppression is reflected in
Josephus' Antiquities, in Luke-Acts, Hebrews, Revelation
and i Clement, the sequence may have been in that order.
Josephus sees the distress impending. So does Luke- Acts; it
seems to have been the occasion of this work to present the
story of Jesus and of the expansion of Christianity defensively
in view of the impending crisis. 18 Hebrews reflects an early
stage, reminding its readers that they have not found it nec-
essary to resist to the point of bloodshed. But in Revelation
the blood is plentiful. One " martyr " can be named ; signifi-
cantly, " Antipas my martyr " is of the Pergameme church,
and Pergamum was the seat of the provincial cult of the Em-
peror. But more blood will be shed at once; Revelation
reflects the bloody suppression in progress. First Clement,
however, views it from a perspective. It is past, and .after it
the metropolitan church quietly and firmly asserts itself just
as Hebrews had challenged it to do.

As is well known of later situations, persecution, much as
it was dreaded and terrible as were its consequences, purged
and purified churches; they emerged from it stronger than
they had been before. Probably it was so in this earlier in-
stance, particularly since pressure was limited in place and
not extensive in time.

But the Christian movement met the Domitianic suppres-
sion because it developed the necessary strength. It was
represented by numerous well-established churches. Their
adherents had developed characteristic attitudes and had
achieved distinctive ways of life. That these were now ar-
ticulated in gospels proves that they were objective and tan-
gible codes. The use of non-gospel writings proves that the

130 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

religious leaders were versatile. Christianity was rapidly ar-
ticulating an abundant tradition. It was but natural that
some of its leaders reacted favorably and others reacted
negatively to innovations, such as written gospels were; it
was inevitable that some should prefer old and tried methods
and forms. Thus the letters of Paul could be made into an
institution. Thus another apocalypse could be written.
Thus a homily could be written and circulated a practice
utilized later.

But the innovation which resulted in the writing of gospels
actually tended to conserve, for even though the oral trans-
mission of stories of Jesus persisted, even though it may be
seen as late as Papias' plain statement of preference for it, the
conditions of Christianity's expansion in these days when it
was maturing were better served by these objective and tan-
gible forms of the teaching of Jesus than by the orally per-
petuated gospel pericopes. The cults of Jesus were now a
general Church. The movement which they totalized could
properly be called Christianity. The Christianity of the end
of the gospel-making period was emerging from its adoles-
cence and steadily moving to its maturity.

PART THREE

AFTER THE GOSPELS

VIII

A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY

In New Testament study, as any adequate inspection shows,
the sources which were written after the gospels have received
much less attention than those written earlier. 1 Doubtless
this is due to the greater attractiveness of genetic processes,
which are necessarily reflected in earlier sources. But the
reason is partly, at least, that the later Christian writings are
held in lower esteem.

It is true, of course, that Christianity, as is the case with
every social movement, passed from an initial stage of crea-
tivity to a more prosaic phase of growth. It is true that the
later sources, products of the more prosaic period, lack many
of the features of chafm which characterize the earlier.
Nevertheless, since they reflect some of the most important
developments in the growth of Christianity, they are of the
highest value. Their neglect is regrettable.

For it must be appreciated that situations no less perplex-
ing, no less difficult, no less important faced the Christians
after the turn of the first century. Some of them were met in
ways which make it valuable to interrogate the later sources
which reflect them. That these works are not so charming
nor so effective in the esteem of modern Christians ought not
to result in their neglect.

Just why the growth of Christianity in the first half of the
second century is less interesting, or why the crises which

133

134 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

were met and surmounted are regarded as less, significant, is
not clear. It was during these decades that Christianity be-
came fully conscious of itself, when its solidarity was thor-
oughly achieved, when its awareness of the meaning of its
spread throughout the Roman world was fully appreciated,
when it made its decisions as to what forms of internal ad-
ministration to adopt, when the perception of " the catholic
church " was effected, and when it became able to determine
that a minority movement within itself was schismatic and
heretical when Christianity became able to measure itself.
It was during these years that more than one conflict with the
State was met and survived. This was when Christianity
made its first bid for acceptance by contemporary cultures,
and was thus impelled to state its own point of view in de-
fense with reference to contemporary cultures, religion and
political entities. By the time the latest book of the New
Testament was written there was hardly an aspect of Chris-
tianity's claim upon the ancient world which had not been
advanced and the response assured. These were the times
when the implications of many of Christianity's internal
changes were perceived and accepted. In short, these were the
years when Christianity was not merely adventitiously spread-
ing in the Graeco-Roman world, but was consciously plan-
ning her course on the basis of deliberate choice. Surely these
are processes the knowledge of which should be eagerly
sought and highly valued.

It is fitting that this task should begin with the study of
a picture of popular Christianity. Especially is this true for
the student who desires to learn the characteristics of the
religious life which the early Christians actually lived. It is
curious and unfortunate, however, that so revealing a source

A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY 135

for the study of popular Christianity as the Shepherd of
Hermas has not received the attention which it deserves. To
be sure, this is partially true because the work is extraordi-
narily prolix, and in large part tedious as well. But the
major reason that it is neglected is that few have troubled to
understand it, while the few who have made the effort have
usually treated it as in a class by itself merely because it is
not in the New Testament.

It is true, too, that Hermas presents many difficulties. For
one thing, its contents deny the characterization given it in
tradition. There is a reference to it in the Muratorian frag-
ment, which remarks that it was written " recently, in our
own time, while Pius, the author's brother, occupied the
bishop's chair," and that while it may be useful for private
reading it must not be read in church. Hermas is classified
by the fragment with the apocalypses. It has therefore been
studied primarily with reference to the history of the Canon
of Christian writings, rather than for its own sake.

When it is studied at all it is found to be composite. This
apparent fact, when confronted with the statement of the
Muratorian fragment, confuses the student. What was the
period of the writing of Hermas ? What was the period of
the career of the prophet ? While there are persuasive facts
which point to a relatively earlier date, 2 the contradictory
statement of the fragment is usually sufficient to incline judg-
ment toward a later time, so that the task of discovering a
sequence of the parts of which the Shepherd is composed 3
is likely to seem forbidding.

But when Hermas is regarded as a source of knowledge of
popular Christianity, reflecting several stages of evolution in
its several parts, and when it is approached to discover its

136 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

evidence for the religious life of its people, Hermas is found
to be an absorbingly interesting work.

The popular level which it reflects, and the interest which
it possesses, may at once be seen by reading a bit of its narra-
tive. When this is done on the basis of its Greek text these
essential features are apparent. 4 Indeed, they may be sug-
gested by translating a portion in such a manner as approxi-
mates its style:

The man who brought me up sold me to a certain Rhoda in Rome.
After many years I realized things and I began to love her like a
Christian sister.

Then after a while I saw her bathing in the river Tiber, and I
reached out my hand and drew her out of the river. Looking at her
beauty I thought to myself, " How happy I would be if I had such a
wife, a woman of such beauty and of such a way." This was my only
thought nothing else.

Some time after this, while I was going to Cumae, I was praising
God's creation, how great and glorious and mighty it is, as I was walk-
ing I fell asleep. And a spirit took me and carried me through an
unknown place, through which no man was able to make his way,
for the place was rough and cut up by streams. Well, I crossed that
river and came to a smooth place, and I got down on my knees and
I began to pray to the Lord and to confess my sins. While I was
praying the sky was opened, and I see that woman whom I desired
greeting me from heaven. She said, " Hello! Hermas! " When I saw
her I says to her, " Lady, what are you doing here? " She answered
me, " I went up to accuse you to the Lord because of your sins." I
says to her, " Are you accusing me right now? " " No," she said,
" but listen to the things I am going to say. . . ."

Indeed, so popular and racy is the narrative of Hermas that
some critics 5 have thought that the work was made up
(among other things) of popular erotic tales which were to
a degree " spiritualized." However this may have been, the

A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY 137

student quickly sees that the content of Hennas, no less than
the style, illustrates the very popular level of Christianity.

This point becomes apparent, even though it has been ob-
scured by scholarly study. Theological interests have con-
trolled much of the previous work on Hermas. For example,
one is assured that Hermas was written to exploit a teaching
about sin after baptism. 6 This is, indeed, one of the questions
to which the work addresses itself, but, as will be shown, the
problem is dealt with as a practical disciplinary matter, not
theologically nor abstractly. Hermas is eminently practical.
Its teaching, 7 of great importance in its general plan, is con-
sistently presented with practical aim.

It is an arresting thought which comes as one reflects that
the same Christian group in Rome had among its leaders the
well-mannered Clement and the untaught but vigorous
Hermas. One is then forced to realize that Christianity in a
given locality had a place for the institutionally minded
leader who used formal literary method and for the prophet
who obtained his guidance and his messages from visions.
Moral earnestness is to be found in the urbane ecclesiastic
and the crude visionary. It is important that such distinctive
types of leadership are to be found at work in these sources.
Obviously a following was obtained by the leader represent-
ing each type.

Thus the Shepherd of Hermas proves that formulations of
Christian ways of life were not made by ecclesiastics and the-
ologians alone, but, on the other hand, that they were in
some part determined by popular leaders like Hermas. For
it was the purpose of Hermas' work to do what other Chris-
tian writings have been found to do: to articulate and give
direction to proper ways of life.

138 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

As has been shown, Hennas' method differed. He was a
rude, untaught man. He had been a slave. After obtaining
his freedom in some way which is not related, Hermas be-
came a successful business man in a small way. He married,
and had a family. Becoming a Christian, he found himself
to be one of those to whom vision experiences were vouch-
safed. And when he conceived it to be his duty to relate
these vision experiences to his fellow Christians in church, he
found himself, untaught as he was, to be one of the church's
leaders and teachers. He found that he could induce the
vision experience by fasting, but the ascetic rigorism which
he practiced proved to be deleterious to his health, so that the
practice had to be curbed. Finally, he was led to believe it
to be his duty to write the story of his experiences, and with
them to chronicle the teachings which had been revealed to
him. The result is the Shepherd of Hermas.

The Shepherd is a unique book. It is very different from
the well-written i Clement. While it is commonly called an
apocalypse, it is more different from than similar to a typical
apocalypse, such as the Revelation of John or 4 Ezra.

The divisions of the Shepherd suggest its nature. It is in
three parts. The first is called the Visions. There are
nominally five visions, but the fifth is really not a vision as
are the others; it is a revelation experience which introduces
the second part of the work, the Mandates. These are, as
the term implies, the normative materials of the book. There
are twelve of them. Then comes the third section, called the
Similitudes, which are actually ten extended parables. This
section, also, is dominantly didactic.

It is interesting to note that the four visions bring into the
story no less than four agents of the visionary messages, while

A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY 139

the fifth introduces the Shepherd who remains as the sole
mediator of the teachings of the remainder of the book. Of
the four it is especially notable that the Church is one. It is a
well-established institution^ with definite didactic and disci-
plinary functions. On the other hand, it is noteworthy that
Jesus never appears as one of the revealers nor in any way to
disseminate instruction.

The subject matter of the prophet's lessons is not difficult
to observe, even though Hermas is so long and rambling that
the modern reader is likely to become too impatient to master
its contents. Practical matters are treated, such as the proper
behavior of the church member during persecution, and
this is a constantly recurring theme the corrupting effects
upon one's life of business connections, and, indeed, the en-
tire range of contacts with non-Christians. In other words,
the lessons are with reference to the necessity of the Chris-
tians living in a world in which by the nature of the case they
cannot consider themselves permanently and completely at
home. Hermas is much perplexed because the economic ties
have a bad effect upon one's religion. Economic relations
lead one to offer too many hostages to " the world." It was
too probable that when trouble came the economic necessities
determined one's course; one maintained the connections re-
quired by business, and sacrificed those entailed by his reli-
gious life. Indeed, the ordinary friendships of common life
had a similar effect; they were usually stronger and more in-
fluential than the relations of the religious person to members
of his group. Hermas writes to make these things different.

To be sure, Hermas' lessons are quite naive. For example,
his solution of the problem of the ill effect of one's business
ties is that the man must see to it that he has only one small

140 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

business, rather than the manifold affairs which involve far-
reaching ramifications. Nor does Hermas actually solve the
problem how the Christian is to be in the world and yet not
of it; the Similitude which deals with the problem of one's
relation to civil law in the light of his responsibility to God's
law (Sim. i) exhibits an acute perception of the problem, but
it does not finally deal with it. Perhaps this indicates that
Hermas' intellectual ability was too meager to make it pos-
sible for him to solve difficult problems. But it is none the
less true that he was as successful as not a few other leaders
of greater acumen. If his answers only temporarily released
the tension of these pressing problems they at least assisted in
carrying the Christian community to the point that its num-
bers enabled it to survive until presently the intellectually dis-
tinguished leaders could appear.

It is noteworthy that Hermas conceived the project of dis-
seminating his messages throughout the world. The means
was the familiar one of writing them. One of the Visions
(11:4:3) tells that he was directed to provide Clement (the
Clement who wrote the Roman church's letter to Corinth?)
with a copy which he was to send to foreign cities. Another
copy, supplied to a woman named Grapte, presumably a
local deaconness, was to be read by her to the widows and
orphans, and Hermas was to read a copy himself to the as-
sembly of elders who were in charge of the church.

These plans strikingly suggest how widespread was the
idea that leaders had a concern with the welfare of the whole
Church, not merely their local church, but with the Church
widely distributed. They also show that there was a place,
as late as the times when the parts of the Shepherd were
written, for the rude and untaught prophet to instruct the

A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY 141

Church, as well as a place for the more formally instructed
institutional leader. The making up of the whole content
of Christian teaching was effected by leaders who operated
on the low and popular level, as well as by those whose
status was certified, whose efforts were directed to the level
of those of whom more might be expected than of simple
persons like Hermas.

It is useful to point out that Hermas proceeded, as had
certain of his contemporaries and predecessors, in independ-
ence of the gospel tradition. When one reads the Shepherd
to observe what gospels or other writings are reflected in it,
the result is scanty indeed. This is not because Hermas was
ignorant of the gospel tradition or of the gospels. If he lived
in Rome not earlier than the closing years of the first cen-
tury and during the early years of Trajan, he heard many
items of gospel tradition told and retold, and heard at least
one gospel (presumably the Marcan) read in church. His
contemporary, Clement, also a Roman, exhibits knowledge
of the gospel pericopes, 8 Luke-Acts, Hebrews and the Pau-
line corpus. Doubtless Hermas knew something of all these.
But Hermas was a prophet, and, as in the days of Paul, the
prophet had other and (as he thought) better means of
learning than the reading of documents. The gospels, as
was shown, owe their production and preservation to other
trends than that represented by the prophet. Prophets like
Hermas were not congenially disposed toward literary Chris-
tianity. It is no contradiction to this that Hermas wrote his
book, for, although he became an author, in this as well as
in his capacity as a speaking prophet he represented popular,
not literary, Christianity.

The popular quality of the Shepherd is to be seen in the

142 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

use made of it. One envisages with amusement the reactions
of the elders who were the first hearers of the work. Was
his brother, Pius, the occupant of the bishop's chair, one of
them ? Very likely they were bound to admit the validity of
his right to declare what had been revealed to him. But
doubtless they were of the same mind as the writer of the
Muratorian document, who declared that while Hermas
might be privately read it was not to be read in church.

It doubtless seems strange to the modern student that the
crude visionary, the prophet Hermas, could achieve a place
of leadership in his time and place. To one used to a Chris-
tian Scripture which, though only in small part, contains
elegant rhetoric, to one whose impression of Roman Christi-
anity at the end of the first century is obtained from the Greek
of i Clement, it may appear that Hermas marks a retrograde
stage. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The stu-
dent must realize that there were always and in all places
such leaders as Hermas. One must adjust his conception of
early Christianity to fit this fact. He must not conclude that
because Hermas did not reach the level of Hebrews, i Clem-
ent, or James it is to their credit and to his discredit. Their
Christianity happens to be more numerously represented,
and, being literary, to be more widely read. One should dis-
cover the actual quality of the Revelation of John to find an
analogy for Hermas on the unliterary side. Hermas does
not represent a rarity in early Christian growth; even in later
times there were many like him. Note the implication of
the statements of the Didache:

Whoever comes to teach you . . . receive him. But if the teacher
himself is turned about and teaches another teaching to destroy these
things, do not listen to him, but if his teaching is for the increase of

A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY 143

righteousness and knowledge of the Lord, receive him as the Lord.
. . . Do not test nor examine any prophet who is speaking by inspi-
ration . . . but not everyone who speaks by inspiration is a prophet,
unless he has the Lord's way of doing. From his way of doing, then,
the false prophet and the [true] prophet shall be known. And no
prophet who orders a meal while inspired shall eat of it; otherwise
he is a false prophet. And every prophet who teaches the truth, if
he fails to do what he teaches, is a false prophet. But no prophet who
has been tested and is true, doing a cosmic mystery of the church, if
he does not teach others to do what he does himself, shall be judged
by you. . . . But if someone says by inspiration " Give me some
money," or, " Give me something [else]," you must not listen to him;
but if he tells you to give it on behalf of others in need, let no one
judge him.

Obviously this homely advice on a practical subject indicates
the presence of no few in the churches who were more or
less like Hermas; at all events there were many who, like
him, represented uninstructed and popular Christianity. 9

Probably it was because the others were merely vocal, and
did not, like Hermas, receive the direction to write their
messages, that they are less well known than he. It was the
literate leader who should be regarded as remarkable and
unusual. Of course Christianity came to have persons of
higher attainment than Hermas in its membership. But it
never ceased to have people of his level, and such people,
then as now, made up the great proportion of the member-
ship of the churches.

IX

" BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN "

.he pseudonymous and improperly so-called First Epistle
of Peter is largely concerned with the behavior of its people
in a situation of persecution. It is perhaps well to remark
that by most students of the history of Christian literature it
is associated with the traditional persecution of Domitian. 1
The attempt will be made to show, however, that this work,
not belonging to the epistolary category, not written by
Peter, and functioning in another than the Domitianic sit-
uation, has a specific message and an important contribu-
tion to make as it is considered as the work of a Christian
leader who had his independent solution of a critical
problem. Q ^ t ^

The persecution motif is the clew to the understanding
of the work. It plunges into this theme: those addressed
are urged to rejoice even though they have suffered in many
trials. Its practical purpose is with reference to this theme:
those addressed are exhorted that if they are called before
a court they shall be guilty only of being Christians. This
datum is of prime importance. It indicates a fundamental
difference between this and earlier situations in the matter of
the legal basis of persecution. 2 Until now, so far as can be de-
termined from the sources, no member of the cults of Jesus
was persecuted on the ground that he was a Christian. What

truth there may be in the tradition that Nero " persecuted "

144

" BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN " 145

Christians seems to be that a number were tortured and put
to death because they were accused of the burning of Rome,
not because they were accused of being Christians. The
troubles which came during the time of Domitian arose be-
cause of the vigor of the cult of the Emperor at that time;
those " persecuted " were harassed because they would not
worship the Emperor; that was the decisive point, not
merely that they were Christians. Now it is different; one
may suffer on the ground that he is a Christian. Being a
Christian is a recognized crime.

This datum balances with a well-known situation: that
disclosed by the Pliny-Trajan correspondence. 3 . The
younger Pliny, as governor of Bithynia, wrote to the Em-
peror to inquire what was the proper procedure in the legal
process against Christians. He submitted with his question a
statement of what he had been doing. When persons were
accused of being Christians, as several had been (some by
an anonymous declaration), he caused them to be arrested
and examined them. When any denied that they were
Christians, and performed such religious acts as proved that
they were not (e.g., worshiped the Emperor's image, per-
formed approved sacrifice, or reviled Christ) they were im-
mediately set free. Some admitted that they had been
Christians, but had abandoned Christianity, in some cases
several years before. Such as confessed that they were
Christians were remanded for further examination and per-
haps punishment. They were given further opportunity to
deny, and pressure, such as the threat of punishment, was
brought to bear to encourage denial. If they persisted in
confessing in the face of reiterated warning, they were im-
prisoned in the judgment that if for no other reason their

146 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

obstinacy merited punishment. To secure information
Pliny caused the arrest of two young women (the language
makes it difficult to determine whether they were " deacon-
nesses " or merely women slaves) and put them to torture
(it should be remembered that this was neither illegal nor
by ancient custom inhuman; it was a legalized manner of
obtaining evidence). What he found quite reassured him.
Christianity at worst was nothing more than a superstition;
its devotees did nothing more serious than meet early in the
morning for a love feast in which they took oath to commit
no crime during the day, and disperse after singing a hymn.
Indeed, Pliny thinks, the spread of Christianity has been
checked. For a time it had made marked inroads, spreading
from cities to rural districts, with sufficient effect that the
sale of produce for temple ritual had seriously fallen off.
Now, however, the temples were again being frequented,
and the influence of Christianity was notably less.

In his reply Trajan in the main confirmed Pliny's pro-
cedure, merely stipulating that no attention be given anony-
mous accusations. It is important, however, that Trajan
plainly indicates that according to law being a Christian
was a crime for which the one guilty was liable to punish-
ment. It will be recalled that Ignatius of Antioch is be-
lieved to have been put to death in this " persecution." 4

The essential agreement of the data of i Peter and those
of the Pliny-Trajan correspondence is remarkable. It
strongly argues for the dating of i Peter in the traditional
Trajanic persecution.

First Peter has further data. It recommends an attitude
toward the Emperor which is important in connection with
the developments just discussed. This was, indeed, a deli-

" BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN " 147

cate point. As Paul recommended, members of the cults
were expected to be subject to laws and to accept their sub-
jection to administrators. But i Peter adds that all men are
to be held in honor, the brothers are to be loved, God is to be
feared, and the Emperor is to be honored. This is a nice
distinction. It has a classic illustration in the Acts of the
Scillitan Martyrs? who say plainly to their trial-judge: "We
render honor to the Emperor as Emperor, but we reverence
only God as God." Evidently the ability to make the dis-
tinction, as well as the necessity of making it, obtained when
i Peter was written. It will be observed, too, that the re-
iterated appeal of i Peter is that its public must order their
lives so that they shall be liable to punishment for no other
reason than that they are Christians, and they are further
exhorted that as this question arises they may be able and
willing to confess that loyalty.

The persecution data furnish information of the situa-
tion and the occasion of the source. Equally interesting and
important are those data which exhibit i Peter's conception
of religion. The writer sees Christianity as essentially sim-
ple. The people addressed have been pagans, whose lives
have been lived on the patterns common to pagan life. They
have come into a cult of Jesus. They are now expected to
live differently, in accordance with a new standard and a
different morality. They are to become a new people, with
lives characterized by a loyalty to the Lord whom they love,
although they have never seen him. The emphasis upon the
moral life is, as has been pointed out, chiefly with reference
to the practical issue presented by persecution. But beyond
this it can be seen that the problem is complicated because
the cult, as part of the whole movement, is at a point where

148 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

the distinction of itself from other religious societies and
movements must be made. The church is emerging from
the nebulous and undefined " spirituality " which was nat-
ural in earlier situations. The intellectuality of i Peter is
slight and of little consequence: the members of the cult have
joined it by faith (i.e., belief), but what they believed (and
are now expected to believe) was simple. There is not much
theology in i Peter, perhaps because its author was not in-
terested in this aspect of Christianity, perhaps because he
faced problems which at the moment were of greater prac-
tical importance.

In brief, i Peter reads very much like a plain and earnest
appeal to preserve the essential simplicities which had char-
acterized Christianity in its earlier situations as well as in
this. This leads to the observation that the religion
which its author inculcates is very much like the Pauline
type in which the abandonment of earlier religious loyal-
ties in favor of the new is made by simple affirmation of
faith (i.e., belief) in the cult Lord, Jesus. In Paul and in
i Peter the cult Lord is presented as other mysteries present
their divine lords.

If it be true that i Peter is an attempt to preserve the sim-
plicities of a religion which is similar to the Pauline religion,
it may be suggested that it is significant that the present
literary method is used, rather than the recently developed
gospel form. It is likely that this is not accidental, but is due
to the very fact that the old simplicities are affirmed.

What is the literary form of i Peter? The apparent
epistolary guise, in the light of one's study of the " Epistle "
to the Hebrews, will not mislead students. First Peter is
epistolary only in having a quasi-epistolary address and con-

" BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN " 149

elusion. It is significant that both the address and the con-
clusion are readily detachable. When attention is centered
upon the body of the work, it is important to observe that it
reads like an address. Two brilliant suggestions have been
made in this connection. One is that the body of i Peter
may be considered as an address to initiates into a mystery
cult. 6 The other, so similar to this that it involves merely
the use of Christian for pagan terms, is that it is a bishop's
address to a group of candidates for baptism. 7 Inasmuch
as the Christian color of i Peter is essential, not extraneous,
the former suggestion may be merged with the latter; i
Peter is an address to initiates into a cult, but these are bet-
ter to be regarded as catechumens than as mystae. When
i Peter is read with this hypothesis in mind, the details so
fittingly relate to this suggested purpose, leading up, as they
do, to the explicit mention of baptism, that the suggestion
becomes irresistible.

The emphasis upon persecution, so far from being out of
keeping with this judgment, is entirely relevant to it. It was
one thing for those on the fringe of the cult to yield to the
pressure of general public opinion, and to reaffirm loyalty
to a religious cult approved by the State; it was quite an-
other thing for one who had identified himself as a member
of the cult of Jesus, who had received instruction into its
mystery, and who had undertaken the full obligation of its
initiatory sacrament and was now in full membership, with
the responsibilities which that entailed. It must be remem-
bered that this involved the further obligation taken in the
cult oaths of the agape.

The attachment of an epistolary conclusion is not incon-
gruous. If, as this hypothesis assumes, i Peter is a bishop's

150 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

address to candidates for baptism such a means of securing
circulation of the message throughout the " diocese " would
be effective and therefore natural. The problem of address,
however, is more difficult. It is bound up with the larger
question of pseudonymity: why was this work circulated
under Peter's name? It is hardly necessary to argue that
Peter did not write it; the excellence of the Greek might, as
has been repeatedly said, have been contributed by an
amanuensis, but the typically Pauline type of the religious
life reflected is hardly consonant with Peter's authorship.
Neither is the obvious literary relation with the collection of
Pauline letters, not to mention the use of the same Haustafel
as that used by Paul. These phenomena put the matter be-
yond doubt. First Peter is a pseudonym, but how and why
was this particular literary convention used?

The hypothesis which seems to have the highest credi-
bility is that in i Peter the Roman church is again speaking,
this time in the name of one of the two great leaders which
it claimed as its founders. Stirred to active and aggressive
leadership by the challenge of " Hebrews," it not only met
the Domitianic persecution, but it maintained its position of
leadership when another, this time a more clearly defined,
issue arose. The provinces listed in the address may be un-
derstood simply as suggesting that the matters treated in
the " letter " are intended for general cognizance.

It is hoped that the foregoing discussion has maintained a
proper distinction between inference and conjecture. Such
a distinction needs to be drawn. Thus Canon Streeter's sug-
gestion that the author of i Peter was Aristion belongs
merely to the category of conjecture. It is 'always attractive
to be able, if only in imagination, to attach a document to

" BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN " 151

a particular person, and it is interesting that what is known
of Aristion suits Streeter's suggestion. However, the greater
effectiveness of the document when it is viewed as the mes-
sage of the Roman church is not only a major reason for
maintaining the judgment offered above, but the further
coincidence of the Pliny-Trajan correspondence gives added
force.

So viewed, i Peter is an illuminating source of informa-
tion for the study of early second century Christianity. The
movement is seen in greater vigor, as befits its longer ex-
perience. It is seen in new aspects, as befits its otherwise
well-attested variety. It is thus natural that it is in working
independence of the gospel tradition, for the written gospels
did not dominate the early churches as they dominate the
modern. That plain and simple leaders were able to meet
new situations shows that the Christian movement had not
lost its vitality; that some met new situations by maintaining
older types of experience is witness of that independence of
gospel tradition which has been noted.

It is the interplay of the old and the new in i Peter which
fixes this work in the achievement of particular character in
early Christianity. As has been said, the basic and funda-
mental elements in the religious life which it reflects come,
as was true of the Pauline groups, upon belief in Jesus, con-
fession, and baptism into the cult. It should be observed
with due emphasis that i Peter 4:7-11 maintains in detail
a number of the values characteristic of Pauline Christianity,
including an emphasis upon the charismata (indeed, using
the very term). And the writer of i Peter finds it in keeping
with his way of inculcating moral instruction to cite, in
somewhat extended form, the table of household duties first

152 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

encountered in Colossians. But it should not be supposed
that the religious life reflected in i Peter has no new fea-
tures. Doubtless it is because the work makes an advance
upon Pauline religious experience that its use of mystery
cult terminology is more obvious in its detail and inclusive-
ness. It is a distinctively new feature, however and one
in particular independence of gospel tradition that the
decensus item, having come into the general tradition, is used
by the writer of i Peter. It is noteworthy, to allude to a matter
of behavior rather than of teaching, that the new elements in
the table of household duties show that Christians are meet-
ing new questions of custom: it appears to be necessary for
the writer of i Peter to warn against adopting non-Christian
manners of dress, wearing of jewelry and coiffure; it may
also be inferred that slaves are sometimes restless and need
to be warned to be always respectful.

Even more indicative of new feature is that which appears
when the emphasis upon the distinction between the old life
and the new life is observed. The people of the cult used to
live with pagans as pagans, but now they live differently, and
their former associates are surprised and offended that they
have withdrawn from their former associations. Indeed, the
fact is basic to the troubles which the cult members face, for
their old companions now abuse them because they have
withdrawn and live differently. Another feature of distinc-
tion marks a similar advance over the primitive status: these
people are now conscious of distinction from Jews. They
I are at the threshold, if, indeed, they have not stepped over
I it, of the soon-to-become-usual conception: that die people
i of the cults of Jesus have supplanted the Jews and are there-
I fore the true Israel. And obviously the emphasis in i Peter

" BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN " 153

upon ecclesiastical organization, particularly in the matter
of the cult practices, is a further growth from the essentially
simple base. The Christians, for they may now be called that
without committing an anachronism, have already appropri-
ated a number of figures from Jewish Scripture to justify
this; they are the chosen race, a royal priesthood, a conse-
crated nation, God's people.

The writer of i Peter proceeds as he recommends. Very
likely he practiced charismatic inspiration, which may well
have been a reason why, although he writes when many
gospels were in existence, he quotes none. When he quotes
it is Jewish Scripture, always for its evidential value and in
an apologetic manner. His direct teaching is, indeed, the re-
sult of his possession of a charism, for when he speaks he
does it as one who utters the oracles of God (4:11).

Thus in its reamrmation of earlier conceptions and values,
no less than in its adoption and advancement of newer fea-
tures, i Peter bears witness to transformations taking place in
Christianity. It was in the variety of types of experience,
variety of leadership, and particularly in the differing ex-
igencies of situations that necessary adaptations were made
and further changes effected.

X

THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS HIS CODE

JLhe homily and the apocalypse written by Christian lead-
ers while others were writing gospels show that a variety in
the types of religious experience in early Christianity pro-
duced different types of religious leadership. These differ-
ences are reflected in the several forms of the literary vehicles
of religious teaching.

The student will discover that the didactic function in
Christianity was itself expressed hi various ways. There
were teachers in the Pauline communities, and while it is
not known in detail what their work was it is certain that it
was of the non-gospel type. The didactic function was one
important element, among others, in articulating the gospel
traditions, but it was only one of several aspects of the leader-
ship which produced the gospels from the gospel materials
and sources.

Not long after the gospels were written two different types
of Christian writing appeared which exhibit the work of the
specialized teacher. Both are of other than the gospel form.
One of them is called " The Teaching of the Lord Jesus
.through his Twelve Apostles," commonly called The
Didache, and the other is the so-called Epistle of James.
Both are interesting in their own right, and both are instruc-
tive when they are compared with the gospels.

Modern gospel study directs attention especially to what is

154

THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS His CODE 155

called, in view of contemporary emphasis upon form, the
paraenetic materials of the gospels. These are, as the term
indicates, elements of teaching which by exhortation under-
take to influence persons to live according to generalized
norms in patterns which apply to all situations, rather than to
one specific situation. Christian paraenesis arose through
contacts of early Christians with their environments, recog-
nizing local patterns and adapting them to Christian use.
The table of household duties, found in a Pauline letter and
subsequently used widely, is a case in point. Certain parts
of the gospels present other examples and reflect other stages
in the processes of the growth of paraenesis. Additional in-
formation is furnished by the work of teachers in the post-
gospel period.

The Didache is especially instructive. Like the gospels, it
owes its final form to the incorporation of sources. 1 Again,
it illustrates in some of its content the continued existence of
gospel materials as separate pericopes. Further, it contains
a considerable amount of independent material. Much more
obviously than in the gospels the church appears as fully de-
veloped, institutionalized, and manned by officials; its " serv-
ices " of several types are their specialized field of activity.
What is especially illuminating, as is also true of the Epistle
of James, is its concern for the definition of the moral code
of the church member. In this respect the Didache is a par-
ticularly valuable example of early Christian paraenesis.

Doubtless the most interesting feature of the Didache, to
modern readers, is its approximation of the content of the
gospel traditions. Does it quote the gospels? Certainly
some of its materials are introduced directly, without the
guise of quotation. Others are introduced as " the teaching

156 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

of the words (logta)" some as " commandments." On the
other hand, the gospel is sometimes referred to as meaning
generally " the good news." Once the words occur, " the
ordinance (dogma) of the gospel," but the item so intro-
duced has no parallel in any known gospel. Another teach-
ing is cited with the sanction, " as you find in the gospel,"
although no identifiable reference can be determined. Once
" the gospel of our Lord " is referred to in a general way
which suggests a specific reference; the so-called Lord's
Prayer is cited essentially as it appears in the gospel according
to Matthew (significantly, in the form with the doxology)
with the formula, " as the Lord commanded in his gospel."
A quotation which corresponds closely with another saying
in Matthew has the formula " concerning this the Lord said."
In spite of the apparently direct quotation of Matthew it is
uncertain whether this work is actually quoted, or whether
" the gospel " has more general meaning. Certainly mate-
rials are included which were not derived from any gospel
known to us, and, indeed, the whole of the Didache is
affirmed as independent teaching.

It must be remembered that inspired teaching is assumed
by the Didache as being still in use (11:3-12, quoted above,
p. i42f .) . And the differences from the known gospels are as
noteworthy as the apparent relations with any one.

The Didache, while it is instructive to study it together
with James, is not similar to the " Epistle " of James at every
point. Each in its own way is a valuable source for the study
of the work of the teacher expounding his code. The ecclesi-
asticism of the Didache has only slight representation in
James, and the Didache much more obviously refers its teach-
ing to source. There are several interests in the Didache not

THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS His CODE 157

present in James, e.g., the careful instruction about holding
the sacraments (interestingly enough, in these aspects the
teaching differs markedly from that of the gospels), and the
criteria for qualifying church officials. It is a further inter-
esting detail that the Didache, put into its present shape at
some time during the second century, includes with teaching
of the Lord a thoroughly apocalyptic section.

But James and the Didache are similar in that both exhibit
a teacher who has here articulated and is here expounding
a code of moral standards for Christian people. Indeed, the
work of the teacher is specifically referred to (Did. 11:1, 2,
10-12 ; James 3:1). That the more apparent correspondences
with the gospel traditions are fewer in James (cf. 3:12, 4:10,
5:12), and that its teachings are introduced quite independ-
ently, without formula of any sort, does not invalidate the
characterization just made. Quotations of Scripture are few
(2:8, n, 23, 4:6) and allusions fewer (4:5, 5:11, 17). This
does not indicate that the writer of James did not know
Scripture; although Septuagint quotations are few the ter-
minology of the Greek Old Testament is abundantly reflected
throughout its vocabulary. 2 The point is that James does
not proceed on the basis of Scripture quotation or allusion;
it is itself an independent piece of teaching, which does not
utilize such authority for sanction.

The literary form of James is a useful clew to its nature
and a useful means for understanding its function. To a re-
markable degree James approximates the literary form of the
Cynic-Stoic diatribe. 3 In other words, the " Epistle " of
James, which is epistolary only in that it has been given a
quasi-epistolary salutation, is the work of a leader who has
adapted to the purposes of Christian didactic the vehicle

158 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

which had proved so useful in disseminating the Stoic mor-
ality. The Christian used to inculcate in his code the method
long since developed by the Stoic teacher. James is to be
compared with Hebrews in being an example of spoken
rhetoric; it may be called a homily, if it be remembered that
the ancient conception of the homily, as distinct from the
modern, did not require the development of some one given
theme. 4

It is of the utmost importance to remember that the writer,
or, better, the speaker of James is, as was suggested, expound-
ing his code. The moralities of James are generalities. 5 The
distinctive feature of James, that which permits its classifica-
tion as paraenesis, is that its teachings are intended for gen-
eral, not for specific, reference. The difference between
James' paraenesis and the hortatory sections of a Pauline
letter is that each example of Paul's practical moralizing was
with reference to some specific and individual case, and is not
intended to be general in nature, while in the case of James
it is impossible, because it was not intended, to find a situa-
tion which it was particularly designed to meet. Its persons
are types, not individuals; its cases of moral issue are general,
not particular. This is the nature of paraenesis. Thus it is
in Christian paraenesis that the moral patterns of early
Christianity are found. As has been mentioned, the gospels
in part exhibit aspects of the growth of paraenesis, while
still other aspects are illustrated by such other didactic works
as have been cited.

The literature of the Graeco-Roman world further illus-
trates the processes. Perhaps the most instructive commen-
tary on James is the work known as Pseudo-Phocylides. 6
This Greek poem, a series of aphorisms, has many passages

THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS His CODE 159

which closely parallel, and many others which in some man-
ner illustrate the teachings of James. For example:

Give to the poor man at once, nor tell him to come on the morrow,
When thy right hand is filled full, share what thou hast with the

needy.

Not in thy strength make thy boast, nor yet in thy wisdom or riches,
God and none other is strong, and wise and all-blessed in all things.
Render not evil for evil; vengeance commit to the judges.
Use discretion in speech; naught is more choice than discretion;
Thoughtful speech to a man is a weapon sharper than iron.
Heed the first glimpse of an evil; neglect not a sore that seems trifling;
Look from how tiny a spark a forest's expanse can be kindled!
Shun every cause of division, and dread war's murderous clamor.

Many another hexameter of Pseudo-Phocylides might be
cited to parallel the didactic of James; these are typical and
sufficiently representative.

Clearly James and Pseudo-Phocylides represent the same
process. What was it? The attempts at answering this
question have led to much darkening of counsel, inasmuch as
students of both works have operated upon the basis of pre-
suppositions which inevitably beg the question. It is tacitly
assumed by many that the moral genius of the ancient world
was peculiarly vested in the Jewish people, so that wherever
a piece of ethical teaching is found it is concluded that it must
be Jewish. Thus Pseudo-Phocylides is commonly classified
as Jewish-Greek literature. 7 Why this should be so is not
apparent; there is nothing particularly Jewish about it. It is
merely because the work is predominantly moral in purpose,
and somewhat comparable in form to the Jewish Wisdom
Literature that it is supposed to be Jewish in origin. While it
is quite possible that Jewish morality influenced the Graeco-

160 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

Roman world, it seems gratuitous to infer by such reasoning
that Pseudo-Phocylides is Jewish-Greek.

Indeed, the analogies furnished by Tobit and the Ahikar
stories suggest that the primary influence was that of gentile
culture affecting Judaism; these works, like Wisdom, repre-
sent Hellenistic Judaism in which the basic element is gen-
tile. Nor does the parallel with the Wisdom Literature de-
serve much consideration; the much closer approximation of
the literary form of the diatribe clearly outweighs it. The
study of James in the light of Pseudo-Phocylides shows that
early Christian teachers were doing much the same as other
moral teachers (compare Isocrates, ad Nicolem, and Pseudo-
Isocrates, ad demonicum) were doing. The work of one
illustrates the work of another.

The so-called Epistle of James is thus to be viewed as a
post-gospel articulation of Christian paraenesis, to some de-
gree similar to (compare 5:12), but independent of, the
gospel tradition. In it one sees a teacher who is either unac-
quainted with the gospels or deliberately ignores them. Evi-
dently he considers the literary form of the diatribe as prefer-
able, and by means of it he sets forth his patterns of Christian
idealism.

Naturally, since the teaching of James is essentially general,
it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine the time and
place in Christianity which it represents. What it is and
what it does are clear, but it is not so obvious when and where
its work was done. Attempts to determine authorship, date
and place are greatly at variance. The basic question,
whether the work is a pseudonym, has a generally affirmative
answer; James was a common Greek name, so that if the
work is a pseudonym its ascription to one James must have

THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS His CODE 161

been with a certain James in mind. A persistent tradition is
that the James intended was the brother of Jesus, later the
bishop of Jerusalem in tradition. There is one grave diffi-
culty in entertaining this ascription. The excellence of the
Greek must have been obvious to any ancient leader who de-
sired to recommend his teaching by ascribing it to James of
Jerusalem; it must have been apparent that this would hardly
suit the ascription. And the late achievement of " James "
of a place in the canon of Christian writings is fatal to the
judgment that James of Jerusalem actually wrote it; Origen
was the first to affirm it. In spite of this the alleged similari-
ties to the gospels are thought by some to suggest authorship
by this James. However, modern work on the gospels points
in the opposite direction: the coincidences between James
and the gospels occur because each is an independent articu-
lation of Christianity's teachings. The paraenetic materials
of the gospels had a long and a varied history; if they reap-
pear in non-gospel form in such works as James and the
Didache it is because the teacher in early Christianity ful-
filled his task in many ways.

On the whole, it seems to be most satisfactory to regard
James as reflecting some undetermined Graeco-Roman lo-
cality at a certain point in Christianity's emerging maturity.
A date in the second century is required by considerations of
canonicity, but it is impossible to be more definite about it.
Obviously it was either a non-Pauline locality, or one in
which the Pauline type of the religious life had given way
to a more prosaic, but withal to a more objective and tan-
gible one.

Primitive problems and characteristics of primitive Chris-
tian life do not appear in the work. James is interested in

162 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

articulating a code, not in discovering the answers to new
questions. The problems dealt with are those of a movement
which is far from its beginning, i.e., generalized questions of
wealth and poverty. 8

There is a definite ecclesiastical aspect of the religious
movement represented by James, as well as by the Didache.
As has been mentioned, the Didache devotes much more
space to matters of ritual and institutionalism, but James'
reference to church officials concerned with the healing of
the sick shows that the church figures in his code as the fun-
damental means of institutionalizing it. This is much the
same as is true of the Didache.

The function of the church seals the observation that James
is properly to be understood as a source for the study of Chris-
tianity's consolidation. The emphasis upon teaching is
merely the specialization of the author's work. Character-
istically, he proceeds by enunciating normative patterns, using
(as was consonant with the diatribe style) as most effective
means the rhetorical question and the imperative. He illus-
trates the Christian movement as coming to terms with its
world, so much so that his important contribution to the
growth of Christianity is the making of its moral patterns
conventional. The details of his code he derived from living
experience in Hellenistic life, articulating them in language
long since found effective in the phrasing of moral instruc-
tion. He expresses his teachings on the basis of his authority
as a church official, a recognized teacher. He makes no
effort to secure sanction, as the gospels did, by ascribing them
to Jesus, but he presents them as the proper function of the
Christian teacher.

THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS His CODE 163

The student must content himself with the rich store
of information derivable from James about the consolida-
tion of Christianity to compensate him for the impos-
sibility of learning more about its author, its date, and its
place.

XI

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS

T-i

J.he presence of a variety of tendencies in Christianity as
the movement began to consolidate made it inevitable that
problems should be precipitated by the rise of sects and here-
sies. Unfortunately, almost every study of Christianity
which deals with this aspect has approached these problems
with a wrong emphasis. The goal has been to identify the
sectarian group by determining exactly how its heretical be-
liefs differed from those of the general movement. This
has erroneously suggested that sectarian problems were
essentially intellectual, and were so regarded by the early
leaders.

As has been emphasized in the present study, the varieties
in early Christianity were with reference to ways of living the
religious life. The consolidation of Christianity involved
the articulation of the codes and patterns, so that early Chris-
tian didactic was very largely with reference to behavior.
Thus the emergence of sectarian problems was a social, rather
than an intellectual, matter. The basic question was that of
discipline, rather than belief.

Probably the earliest reflection of a sectarian problem is
that which occurs in the little letter which now constitutes
the sixteenth chapter of Romans. This source points out
that certain persons are causing divisions and scandalous
situations which contradict the teaching which Paul had

164

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 165

given. The group addressed (was it the Ephesian church?)
was advised to take note of these persons and to turn away
from them, i.e., to ostracize them. Thus early was discipline
of a sort used to meet the problem of division.

Again, the speech to the Ephesian elders (note the
Ephesian locale) put into Paul's mouth by the writer of
Luke-Acts recognizes as though by anticipation the rise of
division which without doubt had arisen when Luke-Acts
was written. Grievous wolves were to arise among the
Ephesians, while from their own number men were to ap-
pear breaking up the unity of the group.

Sectaries are apparent in the situation of the Fourth Gospel
(commonly regarded as Ephesian in its provenience). Here
the John the Baptist sectaries are all but named. Obviously
the sectarian problem is involved in the prayer for unity
which climaxes Jesus* discourse for the guidance of the New
Community.

Likewise the watchword of unity, no less than the warning
against being blown about by every wind of teaching, so im-
portant in the messages of " Ephesians," indicates the rise of
the sectarian problem.

Finally, it is in his letter to the Ephesian church that the
seer of Revelation alludes to the heretical group, the first to
be named, called the Nicolaitans.

However, it is in the sources of the post-gospel period that
the rise of sects becomes so pressing a problem that its issues
now clearly emerge. This is only natural, since Christianity
reached its maturity in the period reflected by these works.
The movement had first to achieve a consciousness of itself.
This had been done; an early stage is reflected in Luke- Acts.
Indeed, more had been accomplished: the conception of the

i66 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

church as a general and a geographically widespread insti-
tution had been achieved, as " Ephesians " and the Pauline
corpus show. First Peter makes plain that people now were
liable to suffer as Christians. Then, as will be pointed out
presently, a leader of the post-gospel period was able to refer
at once to " Christianity " as such and to " the catholic
church." And, as has been noted, the Roman church had
risen to a dominating position, which could be exercised in
practical assertion of control over other churches and in a
generalized conception stated in i Clement.

The first clear-cut appearance of sectarian problems is
found in the Johannine letters. Their writer is a religious
leader (doubtless a bishop, since he asserts authority over a
district) who attempts to maintain control over his people
in the face of a rebellious situation in which some who used
to be in the group have left it and are setting up a rival move-
ment. He writes three documents. One of these is plainly
a letter addressed to a man named Gaius. A second has an
address which because two of its words are ambiguous pre-
sents a problem; " the elect Kyria " might be an unnamed
woman (" fyria " means " lady "), a woman named Kyria,
or a figurative address to a church. A third document, much
longer than the other two, is commonly called a letter, but it
lacks either epistolary salutation or conclusion. It is, how-
ever, a document written for more or less general circulation.
The problems of the sectaries appear in all three sources.
Hence it is an attractive hypothesis that tKere are by the same
leader two letters, one to an individual, another to a church,
and a writing which,/>f other than epistolary form, is a docu-
ment for the instruction of people generally throughout the
leader's sphere of influence, i.e., his diocese. 1

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 167

The problems may be stated most readily by analyzing the
sources in that order.

In the third document, a letter so small that it is compara-
ble to the thousands of non-literary papyri, the bishop com-
mends the practice of Gaius in receiving certain traveling
members of other societies into fellowship. Also approved is
a certain Demetrius. On the other hand, a rebellion is indi-
cated in what is said of Diotrephes, who appears to be a recog-
nized leader in the group in which Gaius also has a position of
responsibility; Diotrephes has refused to receive the persons
who were hospitably welcomed by Gaius. And, it appears,
Diotrephes has also refused to receive the writer of the letter.
Further, he has exercised his position of leadership to expel
from fellowship the people who have accepted these new
arrivals. No reason is given why these people came, why
Diotrephes refused to accept them, why he expelled their
hosts, or why he thus repudiated the directions stipulated
by the letter writer. It will be noted that the writer says
that he wrote to the church, only to find that Diotrephes had
repudiated his directions.

Two further items are worthy of mention. Not unnatu-
rally, the writer refers to Diotrephes in uncomplimentary
terms; he suggests that what standing Diotrephes enjoys he
has secured by his own desire for pre-eminence, and implies
that what Diotrephes does is wrong and wicked. One of
his faults is that he speaks against the writer of the letter;
this and his expulsion of the migrants and their hosts are
his specific acts of disobedience. The second point is that
the writer hopes to clear up the bad situation by writing to
Gaius, but he indicates that if necessary he will visit the
troubled church, thus implying that if the letter is not sum-

168 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

cient to win its purpose his appearance in person undoubt-
edly will.

The scant didactic reference in the letter is, in spite of the
letter's brevity, surprising. Aside from remarking that the
writer rejoiced when some brothers came to him testifying
to Gaius' truth, and the general remark that he is never so
happy as when he hears of his children walking in truth,
there is only the broad exhortation to imitate the good rather
than the evil. Obviously these moralizings are to be viewed
in the light of the disciplinary crisis. Even so, that no fur-
ther attempt is made to define basic principles nor to cite
relevant teaching is surprising.

The content of the second letter indicates that it was ad-
dressed to a church. This is suggested, not merely because
" the elect kyria " is probably figurative (Kyria would be
less likely, though possible, as a name, and " elect lady,"
while sufficiently honorific, is hardly cordial enough as ad-
dressed to a specific and a well-known person), but because
of the several references to the " children." In the final
sentence " the children of your elect sister " are referred to,
analogously to " your children " who are twice mentioned.
The second reference is all but explicit, for in it these " chil-
dren," who are part of the whole group whose conduct is
praised (while that of others is blamed), most probably sym-
bolize the members of a church.

The rebelling persons are mentioned twice, once in a gen-
eral reference, once in a specific statement. It is said that
many deceivers have gone out into the world, persons who
are deceivers because they do not confess the belief that Jesus
came physically. The members of the church are warned
against these deceivers, and are instructed to refuse fellow-

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 169

ship to them, even to the point of shutting them from all
association they are not allowed even to greet them.
Some, but not all, of the " children " walk in truth, just as
" we received commandment from the Father." This clearly
indicates the problem of division, as the other letter exploits
the disciplinary problem. The solution offered is in exhort-
ing all to obey the commandment which they had from the
beginning, i.e., that they love one another. Obviously, in
view of the order to refuse hospitality to certain persons, the
exhortation to love one another is intended to apply only to
the obedient members of the group.

In distinction from the letter to Gaius, this letter introduces
general principles and enunciates basic directions. The
obedient are persons who are recognized as knowing the
truth, and in this matter it is said that the truth is " in us "
and that it will remain " with us forever." Therefore the
obedient walk in truth. They must continue to obey the
old commandment to love one another; indeed, they must
walk after God's commandments. Unfortunately, what these
commandments are is not stated. On the other hand, the
disobedient are characterized in opposite terms. Anyone
who takes a position of leadership but does not abide in the
teaching of Christ does not possess God. Again, it is un-
fortunate that this teaching is not specified. Rather, it is
merely said that he who abides in the teaching has both the
Father and the Son. Presumably the content of the teaching
was known to the readers of the letter, for it is further di-
rected that if anyone comes to them without it such persons
are to be recognized as those to whom fellowship and hospi-
tality are to be refused. Of course, the approved teaching
was the particular orthodoxy of the group in which the writer

170 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

exercises authority. Indeed, in the degree to which his in-
struction is accepted and respected it is the teaching of the
group. Perhaps that was why it was unnecessary to specify it.

It is plain that the situation, as far as these two letters re-
veal it, was disciplinary and social rather than doctrinal or
otherwise intellectual. The attachment of the epithet " anti-
christ " to those opposed is merely the usual manner of weak-
ening the authority of the rebels by labeling them, especially
by applying epithets of obviously opprobrious implication.
*- In this letter, too, the possibility of a personal visit is men-
tioned. Here, however, the tone is entirely friendly, inas-
much as the persons addressed acknowledge the writer's
authority.

The fuller content of the third document, the "First
Epistle of John," complicates the picture. Yet the problems
of the rebellion appear at several points. With the many
general references to the fellowship, which should be so re-
garded, there are explicit statements. One is that " they went
out from among us, although they were not of us, for if they
had been of us they would have continued with us " (2:19).
Hardly less plain is the longer passage discussing the neces-
sity of distinguishing " spirits " (4:1 ff). The point is simple.
Many false prophets have gone out into the world, and the
case has arisen in which " spirits " induced by these must be
distinguished from the spirit of God. The test is a simple
one: the spirit of God is recognized when the inspired person
confesses that Jesus appeared physically, whereas any other
utterance is if so facto evidence that the spirit is that of
antichrist.

Involved in this, of course, is the fact that there is a differ-
ence between the " we-group," i.e., the writer and those obedi-

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 171

ent to him, and the others who are labeled as those of the
spirit of error. Finally the entire matter appears in further
implications; the group who are commended are they who
love God and their fellows, while on the other hand there are
those who do not love their fellows, so that it is idle to sup-
pose that they love God.

The distinctions which are indicated by the various slogans
or mottoes cited exhibit the same features. Some of the
rebels say such things as, " We have fellowship with him,"
" We have no sin," " I know him," " I abide in him," " I am
in the light," " I love God," but from the writer's point of
view their behavior contradicts what they affirm.

It is not difficult to reconstruct some of the tenets of the
recalcitrant group. The repeated emphasis upon the neces-
sity of acknowledging that Jesus came physically gives the
essential clew. The persons who deny it are either the defi-
nitely known " seemists " (docetae), or persons like them; in
either case persons who affirmed that Jesus did not actually
suffer because he did not have the physical being necessary
for suffering, but that Jesus was a spirit-person whose appar-
ent body was not real and who therefore could not actually
experience suffering but merely seemed to do so.

However, it is not desired to center attention upon the
opinions of the docetae in general nor upon the opinions op-
posed in these sources. 2 It is essential to have in mind that
the situation was primarily social. The all important ele-
ment in the writer's problem is that the defection of these
persons, in the degree to which it was effective and influen-
tial, has broken the unity of the whole group. The writer
acts to control that situation.

Other elements in the largest source further corroborate

172 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

this point of view. For example, certain institutions of the
church are involved. The affirmation of the seceders is that
they are sinless, i.e., perfectionists. This leads the writer to
point out that all are sinners, and that upon occasion anyone
may sin, but that in such case we (note the distinction of the
" we " implying the " they ") have a Defender with the
Father, Jesus Christ the Just, who is the propitiation for our
(sic) sins and for the sins of the entire world. Again, the
manner in which the subsequent argument involves the well-
known references to water and blood adds evidence. Obvi-
ously the institutions of baptism and the communion are
involved. It is to be inferred that only those within the
group are eligible to the benefits of these sacraments. Such is
the point of the distinction between the witness of God and
the witness of men; the sacraments and the third witness,
i.e., the spirit, witness God, and the witness of men is in
every way inferior.

These, too, are matters which ultimately involve discipline.
Obviously the aggressive leader must keep the sacraments
and other institutions of the church under his control. One
essential point is that the people who receive and benefit by
sacraments must accede to their official administration.

It is time to return to the observation that the largest docu-
ment has a number of interests. The point is suggested by
the question of its literary form. It has been remarked that
the source lacks epistolary salutation and conclusion. In
fact, the opening phrases constitute one of the major prob-
lems of the work. They are a curious congeries of relative
clauses, with no defining antecedent and unresolved for the
lack of a conclusion. Indeed, the opening " verses " as they
stand are quite untranslatable. How, for example, should

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 173

the phrase, " about the word of life," be construed ? The
best suggestion is the conjecture that it is a scribe's (not,
of course, the author's) title for the whole work or for a
section of it, the phrase having been inadvertently incor-
porated. 3

To be sure, the lack of epistolary equipment is not impor-
tant; the student of early Christian literature should be ac-
customed to imperfect approximation of form. The nature
of the work may be discovered inductively. When it is
analyzed a homiletic source may be identified, which is the
basis of the discourse amplified to make the whole docu-
ment. 4 Thus the "letter" may be viewed as the church
leader's (the bishop's) address to a congregation in the cele-
bration of the agape? the love feast, amplified by such other
matter as the writer considers useful. The whole document
is thus the bishop's appeal to his people to submit to his au-
thority. The appeal is the more effective if it was, indeed,
based upon the agape, for it was essential in this ceremony to
take a series of oaths. When " i John " is re-examined with
this hypothesis in mind the suggestion attains some proba-
bility. All the elements of the document on this point of
view fall into relationship, so that the work thus has fresh
meaning.

All three New Testament sources which first reflect the
problems precipitated by the rise of sectaries are illuminated
when they are studied together with certain contemporary
Christian writings. Allusion has been made to the fate of
Ignatius of Antioch. Ignatius when on his way as a prisoner
to Rome wrote a series of letters, 6 several to Asian churches
and one to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. So closely do details
of the Ignatian letters correspond with elements in the

174 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

" Johannine letters " that it is profitable to view them to-
gether.

The theme which is common in the Johannine and the
Ignatian letters is that of the unity of the church under the
authority of the bishop. The two sets of writings agree in
conceiving the problem as disciplinary rather than as intel-
lectual. Ignatius insists that the bishop represents the church
in such a manner that no one who is insubordinate to him is
truly within the church, while no one outside the church has
the bread of God. Obviously the reference, like that of
i John, is to the sacramental meal. The matter is eminently
practical; Ignatius insists that " he who does not come to the
meeting (interestingly enough, the phrase is the same as that
which makes one of the difficult locutions of Luke-Acts, epi
to auto) is overbearing and has separated himself (Eph.
5:3)." Throughout the Ignatian letters the data which ex-
hibit the actual appearance of separatism are abundant, e.g.,
Eph. 7:1, 9:1, 20:2; Magnesians 4:1; Trallians 7:2; Phila-
delphians 3:1-3; 4; Smyrneans 6:2-8. The point reiterated
is that the disavowal of the authority of the bishop breaks up
the unity of the group. Every care must be taken, by bishops
and by people alike, to preserve the corporate unity which
inheres in the loyal relationship of the bishop, the elder, the
deacons and the people.

It is easy to show the social nature of the divisions which
Ignatius deplores. "There are some who recognize the
bishop in their words but who disregard him in their practice.
These ... do not hold legal meetings according to com-
mandment" (Mag. 4). In a passage strongly suggesting
the words of i Clement 48:8 Ignatius says: " Do not attempt
to make anything appear to be right for you according to

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 175

your own judgment, but let there be in the assembly one
prayer, one petition, one mind, one hope in love . . . come
together as it were in one sanctuary of God, as it were to
one altar, to one Jesus Christ " (Mag. 7:1, 2). " He who is
within the sanctuary is cleansed, but he who is outside the
sanctuary is not cleansed, that is, he who is apart from the
bishop and the presbytery and the deacons is not cleansed in
his conscience " (Trail. 7:2). " As many as are of God and
of Jesus Christ, these are with the bishop; as many as change
their ways and come to the unity of the church, these, too,
shall be of God" (Philad. 3:2). "Be careful, then, to
make use of one Eucharist only, for there is one flesh of our
Lord Jesus Christ, one cup for union with his blood, one
altar, just as there is one bishop with the presbytery and the
deacons " (ibid. 4).

Ignatius points out the effect of division upon the religious
life. Whether objectively or not he alleges (to transliterate
the Greek) that the heterodox have no regard for love, none
for the widow, for the orphan, for the distressed, for the af-
flicted, for the imprisoned, or for those released from prison,
none for the hungry or thirsty. Further, they absent them-
selves frpm the Eucharist and from prayer (Smyr. 6:2-^7:1).
He recommends that the people be dealt with much as Paul
and the writer of 2 John had advised; they are to be noted
and avoided, if possible even to be ignored in public or
private address.

To be sure, the intellectual aspects of the sectarian problem
are not ignored in the Ignatian letters. Like the unnamed
bishop, he alludes to their distinctive point of view, i.e., the
belief that Jesus merely seemed to suffer (Trail. 10; Smyr. 2,
3> 5). He refers also to heretical inclinations toward Juda-

176 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

ism (Mag. 8-10; Philad. 6:1); however, it is less the in-
tellectual, and more the practical element which is here em-
phasized.

But the practical side of the emphasis upon corporate unity
is unmistakable in the view of the bishop of Antioch. He
plainly says: " See that you follow the bishop . . . and the
presbytery . . . and reverence the deacons. Let no one do
any of the things which belong to the church apart from the
bishop. Let that be regarded as a legal Eucharist which is
held either by the bishop or by one whom he appoints.
Wherever the bishop may appear, there let the whole num-
ber be present, just as the catholic church is wherever Jesus
may be. It is not proper to baptize or to observe an agape
apart from the bishop, but whatever he may approve, this is
pleasing to God, so that everything you do may be legal and
certain" (Smyr. 8).

It is plain that to Ignatius, as it was in the case of the other
bishop whose diocese was disturbed by disruptive persons, the
institutional values in the problem of control were primary.
This has been abundantly shown in the matter of the sacra-
ments and the church services. The rise of Scripture to such
a status can be seen in an interesting passage: " I entreat you
not to practice factiousness, but to live in accordance with
Christian teaching. For I heard certain men saying, If I
do not find it in the archives (archeiois) I do not believe in
the gospel,' and when I said to them that it was written they
answered me, saying, ' That is just the question.' But to me
the archives are Jesus Christ, the unchangeable archive is his
cross, death, and resurrection, and the faith which is through
him" (Philad. 8:2). This passage will be discussed later;
here it is relevant to point out that it illustrates how Scripture

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 177

in Ignatius' conception is but slightly used with reference to
didactic interests, except as these are involved in the dis-
ciplinary interests.

Similarly, certain elements of the intellectualism of Igna-
tius actually are effective with reference to disciplinary func-
tions. The most important instance is the manner in which
quasi-creedal slogans operate to define a loyalty as well as a
faith. Ignatius uses statements of belief in a manner which
strongly suggests steps in the growth of the later common
creed, but his purpose in so doing is certainly disciplinary
(Trail. 9, Smyr. i).

It is apparent that Ignatius and the writer of the Johannine
letters have problems in which many elements were shared.
Both thus witness similar developments in Christianity. It
is instructive that they attempt to meet their common prob-
lems in essentially the same way. To be sure, Ignatius is
much more obviously an institutionalist. As compared with
his fellow bishop he is much more volatile and emotionally
unstable; indeed, there is abundant evidence of psychic ab-
normality in Ignatius. 7 The New Testament leader is con-
siderably more effective in his use of language; he much
more nearly approaches something like the creativity which
characterized earlier Christianity. On the other hand, Ig-
natius merits recognition for the uncompromising consist-
ency with which he asserts his case.

Attention is inevitably drawn to the question of the author-
ship of the " Johannine letters." This question has deliber-
ately been left to the last, because it is regarded as least
important. There is no value whatever in discussing as such
" the (five) Johannine writings." 8 If it is not certain that
different writers produced Revelation and the Fourth Gos-

178 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

pel, nothing in New Testament study is certain. Further,
close study assembles grave reasons for concluding that dif-
ferent writers produced the gospel and the " Epistles." 9 It is
true that there is a very large coincidence of vocabulary in
these documents. But it is equally true, and hardly less ap-
parent, that the conceptions conveyed by the common words
are very different. Most obvious is the conception of the
paraclete. In this gospel the Holy Spirit is " another Para-
clete "; in i John the Paraclete is Jesus Christ the Just. In
the gospel the Paraclete is to be with the disciples forever; in
i John he is with God. In the gospel the Paraclete is to lead
the disciples into all the truth; in i John he is the propitiation
for all sin. There are similarly comparable differences in the
ideas about spirit in the two writings. The expectations
about the end of the age differ. All these facts are significant
in determining authorship.

What is most significant of all is not discussed in the hand-
books. It is that the conception of religion held by the
leaders who wrote the two sources differs fundamentally. In
the " Epistles " we have another attempt to preserve the es-
sential simplicities of a relatively primitive conception of
Christianity. The type of the religious life is not that re-
flected by the gospel-making movement. The leader who
wrote the " Epistles " is not a Scripturalist at all. There is
not a single quotation of Scripture in the three sources.
There is but one biblical allusion, the reference to Cain. This
would not be surprising in the two brief letters, but it is surely
not accidental in the case of the longer work. There is no
quotation to prove anything because in the writer's concep-
tion of religious leadership Scripture as proof and sanction is
gratuitous. His religion had no need for them in these ways.

THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS 179

He, like Paul and the writer of i Peter, was a spiritist. The
point contrasts with the conception of religion held by the
writer of the Fourth Gospel.

On the whole, it seems most satisfactory to agree with such
a scholar as Dibelius that the Fourth Gospel and the " Johan-
nine Epistles " were written by different persons. This in-
volves, further, the abandonment of the ascription of any or
all these writings to the shadowy " Elder John." It must
frankly be acknowledged that it cannot be discovered who
wrote these works.

As has been suggested, the point is not important. What
is important is that from the " Epistles " much is learned of
the growth of Christianity in the early decades of the second
century, when problems were precipitated by the rise of sec-
taries. The great question was, could Christianity achieve
the ideal of unity ?

XII

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE

it has been mentioned that Ignatius, bishop of Antioch,
wrote several letters while on his way as a prisoner to Rome.
Six of these were to churches. One was to Polycarp, bishop
of Smyrna. A number of their contributions to our knowl-
edge of the religious life of the Christians of the early second
century have been used to illustrate the " Johannine letters."
Indeed, except for adverting to certain further details, it is
unnecessary to discuss the letters to the churches at any
greater length.

It is interesting, however, to note that the custom of inter-
communication between churches by letter writing was
fully used by Christian leaders and by Christian churches.
Professor Goodspeed has fully discussed this phenomenon.
That Paul wrote to churches is hardly more important than
that an able leader saw the value of collecting and publishing
his letters together for the benefit of all the churches. That
the writer of Revelation followed this analogy by prefacing
a general letter to letters to seven individual churches is an
indication of the quick response which was accorded the
publication of Paul's letters.

The custom of providing non-epistolary addresses with
quasi-epistolary salutations and conclusions has been ob-
served. We have seen the Roman church extending its
influence in a long treatise which was cast in the form of a

180

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 181

letter. We have seen a local bishop sending letters to an
individual and to a church, and an address to a group of
churches. The further letter writing of Ignatius and Poly-
carp throws additional light upon the intercommunication
of Christian leaders and churches by letter writing.

What is first to be observed is that what was done by the
collector of Paul's letters was done in this case in response to
the impulse toward intercommunication. To be sure, there
were now more evident reasons why it should have been
done. There was now a general conception of the church
as one widely diffused institution. Doubtless what Ignatius
wrote had special value because it was known that he was a
confessor-bishop on his way to martyrdom. But in any case
it is significant that the bishop of a Syrian city was aware of,
interested in, and desirous of instructing Asian churches. As
shall be shown, in his letter to the individual, Polycarp, Igna-
tius has much to say that is directed to the larger group.
And Polycarp obviously accepts the assumption that he
may with propriety address as distant a church as that in
Philippi.

Ignatius seems to have written his letters in groups. Evi-
dently he was transported by the land route, so that he was
taken through several of the cities to whose churches he
wrote from a convenient central point. Probably after hav-
ing visited the Ephesians, Magnesians and Trallians he wrote
to these in retrospect from Smyrna. Likewise he wrote to
the Philadelphians and the Smyrneans from Troas just be-
fore sailing for Neapolis. It would seem (Pol. 8:1) that
it was not until after leaving Troas, perhaps from Philippi,
that he wrote to Polycarp. He had written to the Romans,
expecting his letter to precede his arrival, from Smyrna

1 82 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

(Rom. 10) ; the letter was doubtless carried by certain Chris-
tians who preceded him (Rom. 10:2).

Soon after they were written there was a strong impulse to
collect Ignatius' letters. Polycarp says (Pol. 13), " Both
you and Ignatius wrote to me that if anyone was going to
Syria he should take your letters. . . . We send to you, as
you requested, the letters of Ignatius which were sent to
us by him and such others as we had with us. These are
attached under this letter; you will be able to profit greatly
from them. For they contain faith, stedfastness, and every-
thing which builds up pertaining to our Lord." This re-
markable witness to the thoroughness of the communica-
tion of the several churches with one another goes far to
enable the understanding of Christianity's achievement of
solidarity.

Ignatius' letter to Polycarp is, curiously enough, more gen-
eral in its advice, although nominally addressed to an indi-
vidual/ than are his letters to churches. The regular se-
quence of imperatives, typical in paraenesis, reminds one of
the Epistle of James. It is important to note the problems
discussed. While the matter of sectarian divisiveness, so
prominent in his letters to churches, is alluded to, it is less
prominent in the letter to the bishop. There is, however, a
further example of the table of household duties, in which,
as usual, the treatment of widows, slaves, women and men is
taught. Following is a section containing Ignatius' favorite
theme; the obedience of the bishop. Obviously this has no
practical reference for Polycarp. It is addressed through him
to the community, as is everything else in the letter, without
doubt, except the purely personal matters.

One item is the reference of the confessor-bishop to his

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 183

erstwhile church. Ignatius had learned that Antioch has
peace (i.e., is released from the pressure of the " persecu-
tion " which had claimed him as a victim), but he is none the
less anxious for the Asians to establish contact with Antioch.
To this end he recommends the calling of a common council,
which shall select some trustworthy follower of Polycarp,
whose duty it shall be to go to Syria " to glorify your (the
pronoun is plural) zealous love to the glory of God." Other
references to deputations to Syria occur; Ignatius wrote to the
Philadelphians and the Smyrneans that they might properly
send a deacon to Syria, remarking that neighboring churches
have sent bishops, while others have sent presbyters and dea-
cons. These data further indicate the solidarity of the Chris-
tian movement.

One detail of the achievement of unity, and thus the
effecting of solidarity, is urged in the letter to Polycarp and
in some of the letters to churches. It is the simple device of
urging the multiplication of meetings: "Let the meetings
(interestingly enough, the word is synagoge, certainly used
in the non-technical sense) be held more often " is the ad-
vice to Polycarp (4:2) and to certain churches (Eph. 13:1;
Mag. 7:2; cf. Eph. 5:3, 22:2).

Social problems are important in Ignatius' letter to Poly-
carp. The advice concerning slaves is an instance (4:3).
The exhortation to treat them kindly hardly goes beyond
the Pauline Haustafel, but Ignatius goes on to say (to the
bishop) that the slaves must not be overweening. Indeed,
the bishop of Antioch counsels the bishop of Smyrna to
teach them to endure slavery to the glory of God, so that they
may thus obtain a better freedom from God. It is inescap-
able that there had been agitation for freedom among Chris-

184 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

tian slaves. If this were not sufficiently proved by the refer-
ence just cited, it is established by the specific statement that
slaves must not seek to be freed at the church's expense. Evi-
dently there had been some practice of this kind of manumis-
sion.

Ignatius' references to Christian teaching must be noted.
The most instructive is his statement about the gospel. Igna-
tius is a particularly compelling witness that the gospel was
not merely before the gospels, but that gospel traditions per-
sisted even after some of them were incorporated into writ-
ten gospels. As an Antiochene, Ignatius was without doubt
acquainted with the Matthean gospel. To him this was in
some sense the gospel. Certainly the allusions which sug-
gest Matthew outnumber those which indicate another gos-
pel or the unidentifiable allusions. But there are surprising
phenomena. For instance, coincidences with the Fourth
Gospel are surprisingly frequent (Eph. 5:2; Mag. 7:2; Rom.
7:3; Philad. 7:1). Did Ignatius become acquainted with
the Fourth Gospel while visiting the Asian churches ? Was
it to secure a sympathetic reading of his letters that he
graciously wrote in its terms and figures ? There is a refer-
ence to the resurrection appearances (Smyr. 3) which re-
quires Luke-Acts or its basic tradition to satisfy it, while
references to Paul and Peter as heroes (not dissimilar from
those of i Clement) make his knowledge of Luke-Acts
the more probable. Certainly Ignatius knew the corpus
of Pauline letters; this is shown by his remark to the
Ephesians that Paul " mentions them in every letter "
(12:2).

However, the gospel allusions significantly appear without
formula. Indeed, the only use of a formula (Eph. 5:3) is to

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 185

introduce a Jewish Scripture (although secondarily it may
reflect the New Testament works which quote the same
source). Something definite is indicated by the words, " the
ordinances of the Lord and of the apostles," or by " the or-
dinances of the apostles " (Mag. 13; Trail. 7:1). One
wishes that the meaning were more specifically given. Cer-
tainly Ignatius did not mean the gospels and the writings of
the apostles; this is shown indubitably by the full content of
his statement. Likewise when he speaks of " the gospel "
Ignatius has in mind the general meaning of the word, not
some written document. This is shown, not merely by his
figure of the gospel as " my refuge as the flesh of Jesus," but
still more by his reference to the prophets who announced
the gospel, and the summary statement about " the gospel
of the common hope " (Philad. 5).

One must compare with these the statement, so tantalizing
in its ambiguity, which was cited above: " I entreat you . . .
to live according to Christian teaching (fata christomath-
lan). For I heard certain men saying, ' If I do not find it in
the archives (archeiois) I do not believe in the gospel,' and
when I said to them that it has been written (ge graftal) they
answered me, saying, * That is just the question.' But to me
the archives are Jesus Christ, the unchangeable archive is his
cross, death, and resurrection and the faith which is through
him" (Philad. 8:2).

Obviously the archives are definite and specific, but con-
tain matter whose understanding was debatable. If, as the
translation offered above suggests, the contrast is between the
archives and the gospel (not the gospels, nor some one writ-
ten gospel), the former might have been either Jewish Scrip-
ture generally speaking, or some such collection of messianic

i86 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

proof-texts as that envisaged in Rendel Harris's Testimonial
This is to some extent suggested by the reference to the
prophets, the law of Moses and the gospel (Smyr. 5:1).

However, the ambiguity (which lies chiefly in the syntax
of the sentence) makes it possible that there is no such
dichotomy, but that the meaning is, " if I do not find it in
the charters, that is, in the gospel, I do not believe it." But
this would be opposed to everything else in Ignatius' concep-
tion of Christianity.

It is not essential to determine the exact meaning. It is
clear, in any case, that " the gospel " is not the same as the
gospels nor the equivalent of any one gospel. This is plainly
indicated in the statement: " But the gospel has certain pre-
eminence, that is, the appearance of the savior, our Lord
Jesus Christ, his suffering, and the resurrection. For the be-
loved prophets had a message pointing to him, but the gospel
is the perfection of incorruption " (Philad. 9). When it is
observed that the counterpart involved by the adversative
particle is a reference to priests and the high priest, the
meaning is clear: the gospel is superior to Jewish Scripture.
This is supported by Ignatius' warnings to beware of Jewish
propaganda and practice (Philad. 6:1; Mag. 8-10) and
made explicit in the remark that "the divine prophets
lived according to Jesus Christ " (Mag. 7:1). Ignatius some-
times speaks of the prophets in such a way as strongly to
suggest that he means the Christian prophets (cf. Smyr.
7:2; Philad. 5); certainly they are closely associated with
the gospel. It is all but certain that Ignatius means by the
gospel not the gospels but the content of the Christian mes-
sage. The reference, already cited, to the ordinances of the
apostles bears this out; it is the whole message of the apostles,

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 187

not the writings of those represented in the New Testament,
that is meant.

Two further considerations add probability to this. One is
the statement about " the deacons [the term has technical
meaning; it does not mean merely a male servant] of the
mysteries of Jesus Christ" (Trail. 2:2). The other is the
fact that among his additional distinctions Ignatius possessed
the charism of inspired speech. Not only does he expect that
the Lord will reveal things to him (Eph. 20:2), but he says
that in one of his addresses he " cried out," and " spoke with
a great voice, with God's voice," insisting that when he thus
spoke he had no human knowledge of the matter of which
he was speaking, but that it was the spirit who was preaching
(Philad. 7). In Trallians 5 he further claims that highly
spiritistic experiences were vouchsafed him. It is certain
that to some degree Ignatius kept alive the Pauline type of
experience, including the experience of ecstatic speech. This
goes far to support the other evidence that he is one of the
leaders who found some difficulty in allowing the gospels to
displace the gospel.

There are no specific examples, comparable to those in
i Clement, which indicate whether the gospel traditions
were available to Ignatius as separate pericopes as well as in
gospels and gospel sources. It is inherently possible. One
consideration strongly suggests that his special problems
actually led to the crystallization of gospel materials. This is
the presence of quasi-creedal materials (Eph. 19:1; 20:1;
Mag. 9; Trail. 9; Smyr. 1-2), in which clauses of confes-
sion appear in language which was later formulated into
creeds. Undoubtedly the sectarian problems caused the ar-
ticulation of these statements. The same forces caused the

i88 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

organization of gospel materials for defense against sectaries.
Thus the emphasis upon such an item of the (later) gospel
traditions as the true physical birth of Jesus, and such com-
mon items as his death and resurrection were essential in
meeting the arguments of the " seemists." In these Ignatius
illustrates processes which otherwise resulted in the forma-
tion of the gospels.

There is thus evidence that when Ignatius wrote, the gos-
pel materials were still in evolution, not rigidly fixed by the
writing of the gospels. Of course gospels had been written;
not merely the four of the New Testament, but several, or
even many, others. Likewise the gospel sources were still
extant, both those used by the New Testament writers and
others also. Without doubt there were still in circulation
many " floating " pericopes, many stories and sayings, which
never found their way into surviving documents. A possible
instance of these materials in Ignatius is his reference to a
miraculous star which shone at the birth of Jesus: "A star
shone in heaven above all other stars; its light was unspeak-
able, and its newness caused astonishment. All other stars,
with the sun and moon, gathered in choir around this star;
it greatly exceeded all of them in its light. And there was
perplexity about whence came this new thing, so out of the
order of things " (Eph. 19:2).

Aware of many of these materials, it is not surprising that
Ignatius means by " gospel " more than one or four gospels.
He is another leader who takes from his treasure new things
and old things, who uses traditions of Jesus which were parts
of gospels, but who also has much more in his " gospel "
than that which was written in gospels. Indeed, he can teach
upon his own authority, even impressed by the analogy of

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 189

the bishop and the Father (Trail. 3:1). Like Paul, he, too,
in ecstasy has a direct and an immediate access to God and
thus to divine teaching. Very much alive to the needs of the
growing communities, he is greatly influenced by them in his
articulations of Christian ways of life. In his conception of
Christianity the church itself is a teacher. In an important
sense it possessed the ordinances of the apostles. Its present
officials mediated Christian teaching. Consequently Chris-
tian teaching for him was to be found in other sources than
Scripture, although for him writings, Jewish and Christian,
were part of the whole.

For some reason, Ignatius has not won the recognition
which he merits. 3 His leadership, especially when it is com-
pared with that of the writer of the Johannine letters, was
promptly and firmly applied, as was necessary if any general
solidarity of Christianity was to be achieved. Surely the
forcefulness with which Ignatius met the situation, not
merely in Syria but in the West, was highly effective in mak-
ing second century Christianity what it became. Obviously
Ignatius was a man of limited capability. It is also true that
in his personal characteristics, showing themselves in his re-
ligious life, there were traits of abnormal psychic behavior.
But he was bold, earnest and consistent. More of the eccle-
siastical administrator than the creative leader, his lasting
influence was on the side of organization rather than in blaz-
ing new trails.

Christianity appears as even more institutionalized in the
letter which Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, wrote to the Chris-
tians of Philippi. 4 This is perhaps because Polycarp exhibits
a more disciplined and regimented mind than does Ignatius;
it will not be forgotten that Ignatius, a thoroughly ecclesi-

ipo EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

astically minded bishop, kept alive the custom of charismatic
speaking. While this distinction was claimed for Polycarp
(Martyrdom of Polycarp, 12:1, 3, 16:2), it is not apparent
in what he wrote. His letter abounds in Scriptural allu-
sions, some of which are formally cited. The full range
of ecclesiastical problems with which he deals, and the man-
ner in which he meets them, show that he represented highly
institutionalized religion.

These problems may be mentioned. From as early a
source as Polycarp's letter it appears that money was an im-
portant consideration in church work. For Polycarp, using
the epistolary address as a cloak, urges that the danger of the
love of money is one which must be guarded against, and to
this theme he again returns. It is discussed first in a general
application, and then specifically directed to the " widows,"
i.e., those church workers technically so called, not including
all women bereft of husbands, to the deacons, to the presby-
ters, and, negatively through the bad example of one Valens
(a former presbyter) and his wife, who succumbed to tempta-
tion and made gain from their Christian work.

Second, Polycarp handles the family problem, urging that
Christian wives be taught how they should live, while they,
in turn, were thus to bring up their children. The " widows "
are discussed next, then the deacons, whose qualifications are
carefully listed, the younger men, and the presbyters, whose
qualifications are also listed. Following some general ex-
hortations, certain specific points are discussed, e.g., heresy;
Polycarp was also troubled by the Docetists. It is evident,
too, that the shadow of " persecution " constantly overhangs
the Philippian group ; many elements in Polycarp's letter are
understandable only in view of this outlook. Doubtless this

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 191

was the more relevant because Ignatius had recently passed
through Philippi; Poly carp was sagacious enough to take full
advantage of this fact in urging the value of steadfastness.

Polycarp writes, as he says, on the invitation of the Philip-
pian church. Although he makes a studied depreciation of
himself as compared with Paul, he maintains himself with
dignity and authority. He associates elders with himself,
but he is the teacher. He teaches in strictly moral terms ; his
churchmanship is highly sensitive ethically.

Polycarp's contribution to episcopal correspondence adds
useful information concerning the effective intercommunica-
tion of early Christian groups. This appears from the fact
that he writes in response to their invitation, in the fact that
the immediate purpose of his writing is that of collecting
the letters of Ignatius, and in certain details of the corre-
spondence. For instance, it is clear that the Philippians had
been forewarned of the coming of Ignatius and his party, so
that they were prepared to meet them and send them on their
way with assistance. Further, the Philippians and Ignatius
had urged that persons going to Syria should take as many of
Ignatius' letters as might be collected to his former diocese.
Polycarp replies that he is sending someone to represent the
Philippians and himself and will send as many letters as he
can find. These, and others which he had, he sends to the
Philippians also. A third fact is that there was information
in common about Valens and his wife. Fourth, a number
of problems are handled in such a manner as to show that
they were common, rather than limited to a single church,
so that the details are well known to Polycarp and to his
readers. It is to be further noted that Polycarp is acquainted
with i Peter, the baptismal address turned into an " epistle."

192 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

The last remark introduces the observation that Polycarp
is well informed of the contents of Scripture, including a
large number of Christian writings. He knew all of Paul's
letters, which, judging from the fact that the number in-
cludes " Ephesians," he knew as a corpus. He makes those
tantalizing remarks about Paul's " letters " (sic) to thePhilip-
pians (3:2, 11:3), thus furnishing objective ground for the
inference required by internal evidence that our Philippians
is composite. He knows several gospels, including Luke-
Acts, and once he quotes by the formula, "remembering
what the Lord taught when he said": unfortunately it is
not possible to ascertain whether he thus cites Matthew,
Luke-Acts, or a current form of floating logia. Polycarp
certainly regards the gospel as the messages of the apostles,
for he speaks of what Christ " commanded us, as he did the
apostles, who brought us the gospel, and the prophets [i.e.,
the Jewish prophets] who foretold the coming of the Lord."
As has been remarked, he knows i Peter. The reference to
heresy is usually taken to indicate that he knows and quotes
the Johannine letters, but his reference is such as to make it
possible to regard it as his own observation, for the problem
was a common one. But there is no reason to doubt that he
knew these writings.

The major problem of Polycarp's knowledge of Christian
writings is the question whether he knew and used the so-
called Pastoral Epistles. Not only the importance of the
problem, but its bearing upon consequent historical recon-
struction, is involved. Obviously if Polycarp's letter is found
to allude to the Pastorals it would require their dating at a
time earlier than his letter. But it is the view of this study
that the contents of Polycarp's letter which seem to reflect
the Pastorals are similar to these because both deal with a

EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE 193

common problem. If it were required to conclude that these
similarities imply relationship, it would be necessary, ac-
cording to the view of the present study, to affirm that it is
the Pastorals which allude to Polycarp, rather than that
Polycarp quotes the Pastorals.

A fuller statement of this judgment is advisable. It was
pointed out that Polycarp as a church leader found it neces-
sary to offer instruction (ostensibly to the Philippians, but
actually in broader scope) concerning the qualifications of
church workers. If these criteria are carefully compared
with the treatment of the same matters in the Pastorals, one
gains the impression that Polycarp's is the earlier of the two
discussions. His is the more elementary, the less detailed,
and suggestive of a less advanced stage in the definition of
standards for the controlled selection of church workers. It
is a fair inference that if Polycarp were here quoting the
Pastorals his use would have been more extensive, while if
the Pastorals use Polycarp the relationship would presumably
be that which is indicated in the difference between the two
sources. However, it is much the more probable that in this
matter there is no literary relation at all, but that Polycarp
and the author of the Pastoral Epistles deal independently
with the common problem.

The second factor which is usually cited is the similarity of
certain statements in the two sources. The most striking of
these is in Polycarp 4:1: "But the first [chief, principal]
of all evils is the love of money. Knowing, then, that we
brought nothing into the world, neither have we anything
to take out, let us arm ourselves. . . ." This resembles the
well-known statement to the effect that the love of money
is the root of all evils, etc., in the Pastorals. But the similar-
ity is apparent only in English; in Greek the differences,

194 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

particularly in Poly carp's first sentence, are telling: the words
for " root " (in the Pastorals) and for " first " (chief, princi-
pal) (in Polycarp) are different; the words for " evil " are
different in the two sources, and i Timothy uses the copula
and the article with the word for " love of " money. Inas-
much as the saying is quasi-proverbial, and inasmuch as there
is an Old Testament source for the saying about the impos-
sibility of taking anything out of the world (Job 1:21), not
much can be adduced to prove literary dependence of Poly-
carp upon the Pastorals, or vice versa.

On the whole, the most instructive view of the Epistle of
Polycarp is to regard it as a source for the study of Christian-
ity in Asia as it had grown in the second decade of the sec-
ond century. When it is so used it exhibits just the growth
from what is found in i Peter that the phenomena of the
Johannine and the Ignatian letters would suggest. That is
to say, Christianity was succeeding in establishing itself in
the Roman world by effecting its own internal organization.
Less creative than in earlier stages of its growth, it is more
certain of permanent existence. For this its leaders deserve
much credit. Such sensitiveness to the problems of venality,
and such moral earnestness as one finds in Polycarp's letter
indicate strong leadership. As the episcopal correspondence
of Ignatius and Polycarp is studied the bishops appear as men
of limited capabilities, but as men who make the most of the
abilities which they have. As one sees, further, that stand-
ards for the measurement of the workers in the churches are
emerging, one looks from the several problems which the
episcopal administrators handle to the particular aspects in-
volved in the growth of church rules.

XIII

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES

J_n the decades after the gospel-making period the churches
emerged to a more obvious position of authority. At the
same time their problems correspondingly grew. No sooner
did an able ecclesiastical leader appear than administrative
and moral questions faced him. As the church achieved a
conception of its corporate greatness, forces appeared which
threatened to prevent the successful assertion of central con-
trol. Because some aspects of the religious life were neg-
lected by some leaders in certain sections, religious groups
appeared which emphasized the neglected aspects and from
the ensuing issue many were attracted to sectarian trends.
Internal developments occurred similarly. Patterns of the
life of the church member became regularized or even con-
ventionalized. Tasks of church workers became specialized
and thus capable of definition and of detailed standardiza-
tion. It was now possible to specify the duties of officials.
Yet at the same time it was necessary to see that the religious
life of the people conformed to the patterns which were
deemed right by their leaders. It became necessary to test
the officials by imposing the prescriptions of their offices.
It became equally necessary to insure that the workers prop-
erly discharged their duties as to specify the duties with
which they were entrusted. In every case advance corre-
sponded with the complexity of the situation.

196 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

It is possible to see how some of these situations developed.
Thus the writer of i Peter found it necessary to add to the
main theme of his address his judgment concerning what
seems already to have become a perplexing, as it proved to be
a persistent, problem: the exploitation of church office for
private gain. This was, as has been seen, an important mat-
ter when Poly carp wrote to the Philippians; it seems to have
been the cause of the downfall of Valens and his wife, and
the repeated admonitions of the bishop to various officials
suggest that it was a widespread danger.

The growth and the specialization of the work of the
church officials furnishes a second illustration. By the time
that Ignatius wrote to Polycarp the status of " widows " as
church workers appears. These were recognized church
workers with specific duties. It goes without saying that by
this time differentiation of the work of deacons and elders
had occurred, at least in some localities. 1 It is a matter of no
practical importance whether this involved the emergence
of a church order of government which was uniform or
even general; the type of church order differed in particular
places and times. It is of even less importance whether
bishops, elders and deacons represented three " orders " of
ministry or two. What is important is that in the period of
Christianity's emerging maturity the specialization of the
religious life and task necessarily caused the work of the
officials to differentiate. It is likely that in the inchoate
Christianity of earlier periods there were workers whose
duties even though they were known are not reported as
they are in later sources. But it is certain that as the aggres-
sive spread of Christianity in the larger world met with large
popular response, it became necessary to articulate the specific

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 197

duties of the workers. This was, in fact, a phase of Chris-
tianity's maturing.

Nowhere do these facts appear more plainly than in the
so-called Pastoral Epistles. When these sources are properly
used their information is voluminous and clear. Unfor-
tunately, they are seldom properly used. They cannot give
their information about the religious life of the Christians
in their period as long as they are studied to prove that Paul
wrote them, or that they contain genuine Pauline sources.
Nothing but a thoroughly inductive approach to them suf-
fices. Nothing is plainer than that the contents of the Pas-
torals do not fit any situation of Paul's lifetime. The dif-
ference between these and the Pauline letters includes not
only difference of vocabulary and style, but difference of
religious conceptions and the actual life of the Christians.
Hence a discussion which begins with the arguments de-
signed to establish Pauline authorship and situation neglects
the features which are distinctive. For the same reason a
work which addresses itself to the proof that the Pastorals
contain genuine Pauline sources or fragments means that
these are considered the valuable parts of the letters, with
consequent neglect of the really considerable elements. 2

The inductive approach first undertakes to find from the
data of the letters the situation which called them forth.
This includes, of course, the discovery of their occasion.
These data are what make it impossible to find a situation
and an occasion for them in anything which can be known
of the lifetime of Paul. To be sure, one form of the
" Ephesian imprisonment " hypothesis has the detailed fea-
ture that the Pastorals may thus be viewed as coming from
the " second imprisonment," 3 that in Rome referred to in

198 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

the last verses of Luke- Acts. But this is no more reasonable,
nor as reasonable, as the older hypothesis that Paul was
released from a " first " imprisonment in Rome, that he
engaged in missionary activity such as is reflected in the
Pastorals, and then wrote these from a " second " Roman
imprisonment from which he was not released. But it is
simply not possible to discover such a situation as the Pas-
torals depict at any time nor in any place in the first century.
To be sure, the source theory of P. N. Harrison makes it
possible to look merely to a few fragments for data of Paul's
situation, and thus to relate everything else to the situation
of the " editor " of the Pastorals. But this merely restates
the same fundamental question: what was the situation?

The situation of the Pastorals involves elements which are
corollaries of the data commonly viewed. Among these is
the use of Paul's name. Why did a Christian ecclesiastic,
writing at some time in the second century, representing
thereby a certain point of view, make his points by using the
aegis of Paul's name ?

In considering the pseudonymity of the Pastorals it is
profitable to regard the growth of Christianity in the Pauline
circles subsequent to Paul's death. One finds that current
Christianity in these localities had completely changed. It
was thoroughly un-Pauline. To be sure, the new view of
the origin and function of the corpus of Paul's letters shows
that Paul was used in a certain institutional way. But Paul
never thought that these churches would be in existence as
late as the time that the Pastorals were written, whatever that
time was. The view of a general or a catholic church, which
was expected to be quasi-permanent in its establishment, was
never envisaged by Paul. The articulation of definite stand-

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 199

ards and duties of workers and officials stands in stark con-
trast with the dependence upon spiritual gifts in genuinely
Pauline Christianity.

Likewise the development of Christian teaching was along
lines foreign to Paul's religion. Not only does the process
differ, but the social basis of Christian didactic was un-Pauline.
The emergence of general patterns was the result of processes
utterly antithetical to Paul's " teaching." The development
of codes which were standards to measure the propriety
or the peculiarity of one's belief was a vastly different
process.

It was inevitable, of course, that the infinite variety, im-
plicit in the trust in spiritistic experience, made for the
development of other types of experience as soon as Paul and
other vigorous leaders passed from the scene. In any case,
the formerly Pauline churches developed in other than
Pauline directions. As shall be shown presently, certain im-
plications of Paul's ways of the religious life are to be seen
in operation at later dates, but it is nevertheless true that in
the very places where he had founded churches Paul, after
his death, was not followed in what he had taught.

It is often said that Paul, so to speak, went into an eclipse
during the first half of the second century. The evidence
for this view is that such a Christian leader as Justin Martyr
does not mention his name (although he exhibits thorough
acquaintance with his writings). The usual explanation is
that the use made of Paul by the heretic Marcion made it
politic for orthodox leaders to refrain from mentioning him.
To be sure, Justin's failure to cite Paul's name is balanced by
its honorific use by Ignatius and Polycarp. But it is relevant
and entirely fair to raise the question of the relation of Mar-

200 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

cion and his movement to other aspects of early Christianity
during the time of its emerging maturity.

It is possible that Marcion and his movement may be of
assistance in discovering the situation and the occasion of the
Pastorals. It is advisable to set forth certain essential facts. 4

Marcion was a man whose home was in Sinope, a seaport
city of Pontus. Probably he was a convert to Christianity,
rather than a child of a Christian home. He became a
wealthy man. Apparently he had some education. At all
events, he was a capable thinker who exercised acute abilities
in his religious life. He studied and reflected upon religious
literature. The result of these activities was his development
of certain judgments which did not agree with those com-
monly held by Christian leaders. As fruits of his distinctive
reflection he produced a system of teaching and a book. It is
regrettable that it cannot be determined whether these de-
velopments occurred while Marcion was living in Sinope or
afterward. For by the year 139 he was in Rome, where he
established contact with the local Christians. He made a
large gift of money to the Roman church. While he was
in Rome his ideas and teachings met with opposition from
church leaders. He was finally deemed to be heterodox in
his beliefs and since he persisted in disseminating them he
was expelled from the church as a heretic. At this time the
equivalent of his gift to the church was returned to him.
This had occurred not later than the year 144. Since the
subsequent history of Marcion and Marcionism do not con-
cern the present study, nothing more needs to be said, except
to remark that the Marcionite movement attained consid-
erable influence by the middle of the second century. It
persisted for some time.

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 201

Marcion's ideas may be briefly stated. He thought that
Christianity as generally understood was a perversion of true
Christianity. Paul, he thought, had been the only one who
had correctly apprehended the significance of Jesus. Mar-
cion denied the validity of the Jewish elements in the Chris-
tian tradition, teaching and institutions. Basic to his judg-
ment was a thoroughgoing study of the nature of God.
Marcion was a. radical dualist. He found it impossible to
believe that the God of Jewish teaching could have been the
God of Jesus. Thus he insisted that true Christianity in-
volved the rejection of all elements derived from Jewish
sources.

This involved a criticism of Scripture. Needless to say,
nothing in Jewish Scripture survived Marcion's analysis.
The development of his points brought about a number of
details which are coincident with other systems called by
modern scholars gnosticism. But Marcion's system was
hardly a gnosis, although it has affinities with gnostic teach-
ings. For one thing, Marcion's view was not abstract. He
was a thoroughly practical person, whose ideas were offered
in no doctrinaire spirit. To be sure, his system was shaped
in terms of a series of emanations from deity, with the active
agent the so-called demiurge. This, in turn, led to the
statement of cosmological ideas in which, again, similarities
with gnostic systems are obvious.

Naturally such divergences from usual Christianity led
to the treatment of Marcion as a sectary and a heretic. But
it must be insisted that the basic elements of his leadership
were not intellectual but practical. For example, probably
the achievement which more than anything else put him
beyond the pale was his biblical criticism. Marcion com-

202 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

pletely rejected Jewish Scripture. More than this, he handled
the generally accepted Christian writings very radically. He
was the first Christian leader to organize Christian writings
as a Scripture. In other words, he was the first to put forth
a New Testament. He did this by taking the Lucan gospel
(which was probably already separated from the Acts sec-
tion of Luke- Acts) and the letters of Paul, editing them, and
using them as Scripture. This led to a storm of opposi-
tion, 5 for this was an institutional, rather than a doctrinal
matter.

A number of relevant factors are brought to light by this
recital of the salient features of the work of Marcion. One
is that it shows the existence of a clear-cut division between
the practice and the theory of Christianity on the Jewish
question. Practically this question had long since been set-
tled, essentially on the lines of Marcion's judgment. Chris-
tianity was and had long been a gentile religion, with its
character determined by gentile features. It was the rigorous
application of Marcion's logic, rather than any fundamental
disagreement with his theology, which caused the break be-
tween Marcion and other churchmen. Probably the prac-
tical difference in their use of Scripture was less significant
than the strict application of his views to the point of tam-
pering with the church's Scripture. And yet, more regular
churchmen than Marcion had been driven to curious lengths
to make many parts of Scripture meaningful, practical and
useful. As the Epistle of Barnabas shows, 6 the allegorical
method of interpretation, long since used in Alexandria and
elsewhere, 7 had been appropriated for this purpose. Only
the use of this method of interpreting Scripture, particularly
Jewish Scripture, made it possible for Christians to relate the

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 203

Jewish elements of their religion to the more characteristic
elements, and thus to make a comprehensive whole of the
heterogeneous parts.

As all the sources of the period show, many leaders were
thinking about the nature of God, for a number of reasons
and purposes. Some wished to furnish Christianity with an
adequate intellectual basis. Some, attracted by the implica-
tions of the dualistic philosophies, were working out reflec-
tions on the nature of God in the direction taken by the
gnostic teachers. Some were content to reiterate the tra-
ditional theologies.

Several leaders, as the sources show, were busy in stating
the essentials about the nature of religion and of the church.
These were, however, practical interests, taking the direction
of disciplinary questions. The duties of workers and officials
were more pressing problems in these situations than were
the questions about what officials ought to believe. Religion
was operating satisfactorily as long as the problems of the
cult members were kept within the narrow sphere of per-
sonal relations, so that essential simplicities were not dis-
turbed.

These were important factors when the writer of the Pas-
torals produced these works which he ascribed to Paul. Evi-
dently the most pressing of them was the necessity of con-
trolling the members and the officials of the churches as the
members increased in number and the duties of the officials
correspondingly increased in complexity and responsibility.
It is a human scene which appears in these " letters." When
it is necessary to stipulate that women must dress modestly,
without wearing jewelry, without dressing their hair fashion-
ably, and without wearing costly clothing or ornaments;

204 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

when one must exhort that men must refrain from anger and
argument; when it must be required that the overseer of a
church must be no brawler, no striker, no fighter and no
lover of money; when it must be insisted that the deacons
be not given to the frequent use of wine nor greedy for dirty
money, the implications are plain. It is apparent that Chris-
tianity is growing rapidly, so rapidly that there is a danger
that the numerous adherents cannot be assimilated without
themselves dominating the movement. The need for work-
ers has brought the danger that grossly unfit persons will be
put in places of responsibility. Surely the requirements for
officials are sufficiently modest, not to say elementary.

Specialization of religious work is plain. The statements
about the widows show this. The churches had assumed
the responsibility of caring for these women, and those who
were so cared for were given some status as workers. These,
not all women bereft of husbands, are the " widows " of
Ignatius, Polycarp and the Pastorals. Obviously these
women became a problem, and one can see how the prob-
lem grew in complexity as one passes from the earlier to the
later of these sources. A cause of the problem was the fact
that there were so many of the widows. The writer of the
Pastorals therefore recommends that only women who are
unlikely to marry again should be considered as " widows ";
strangely enough he determines this probability by arbi-
trarily ruling that such a woman sixty years of age might
be listed as a widow, while one younger might not! The
younger women might be expected to marry, and this would
be best for them. Yet this distinction between them does not
suffice, for it is urged that whenever possible the children or
the grandchildren should care for widowed relatives. Only

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 205

those not otherwise taken care of would be enrolled among
the church workers.

There are still other simple and homely tests of the legiti-
macy of widows: they must have been married only once,
must be of good reputation, must be mothers who have suc-
cessfully brought up children, must have practiced hospitality
and have frequently entertained stranger Christians, and in
this must have done the usual acts such as washing their feet
and nursing in case of illness. Practical experience has taught
the writer that not all widows could meet these tests, for he
fears that the younger ones will be idle, neighborhood gos-
sips, and persons whose behavior will get them and the
church into disrepute.

The leader whose judgments are given in the Pastorals
sets up only very practical tests of church workers. This
appears from the simple and elementary criteria by which
they are to be judged. The overseers, or bishops, must, like
the widows, be of good repute, temperate (there is special
warning against addiction to drink), sensible, well behaved,
hospitable, competent to teach, not in the habit of getting
into drunken fights, not lovers of money. They must be
men who have demonstrated their ability to maintain order
in their homes. It is especially significant that they must be
well thought of outside the churches.

While the deacons are of lower rank than the overseers, two
standards are recited which are also required of overseers:
they must not be overindulgent in their use of wine, and
they must not be greedy for dirty money. Deacons must
survive a period of probation, during which they must
demonstrate their abilities to meet these standards. This
precautionary measure enabled the churches to maintain

206 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

another standard held by the writer of the Pastorals: the
churches must not ordain their officials hastily. Using a
technical term, it is directed that the overseer must not be a
mere novice.

To be sure, there are religious standards for the workers.
The overseers are expected to be just, consecrated and self-
controlled, committed to the message which can be relied on,
exactly as they were taught. The deacons must hold the mys-
tery of the faith in a pure conscience. But it is notable that
more attention is paid to the elemental moral qualifications
than to the religious.

What seems to be the most important consideration is the
matter of money. More than once it is insisted that no one
may become a church worker of whom it can be said that he
is a lover of money. It is recognized that this qualification is
necessary because some of the officials have been lovers of
money and have used their offices for personal gain. It is
highly significant, in view of these things, that in the situa-
tion of the Pastorals the church workers are paid. This is
unmistakably shown in the statement that elders who do
their work well, particularly those who work at preaching
and teaching, are actually worth twice what they get.

Of course the question of money involved others than the
church workers'. While the attitude toward wealth in the
Pastorals is by no means that which is found in Luke-Acts
and the homily of James, it is apparent that these writings
reflect a problem created by the fact that the churches now
included wealthy persons as members. All members are
warned that godliness together with contentment is a su-
perior state, inasmuch as no one can take wealth with him
when he dies. None the less, it is observed, the desire to be

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 207

rich causes many temptations, and evil often comes of it;
the love of money is the root of all evil things. But the rich
people are a special object of solicitude. They are to be
warned against being arrogant, but to do good with their
wealth, sharing it generously. It is most instructive to note
the emphasis upon the problems resulting from wealth in
the different conceptions of the writers of Luke-Acts,
Hermas, i Peter, James, Polycarp and the Pastorals. The
Christian movement no longer drew its public only from
among the poor. It now numbered no few of the rich
among its adherents.

A corollary may be asserted. With the inclusion of
wealthy persons, it is probable that Christianity achieved a
higher degree of respectability than it had previously en-
joyed. Certainly the Pastorals reflect, the desirability of pos-
sessing the good repute of outsiders.

This is an essential clew, also, to the understanding of the
intellectual aspects which are important in the Pastorals.
When Christianity became inclusive of rich persons it also
reached a higher intellectual status. Not that the rich were
intellectuals, but that wealth, although it is but one, is an
important element in cultural status. Necessarily the intel-
lectual aspects of Christianity appeared relatively late. They
had appeared when the Pastorals were written.

Doubtless the necessity to develop intellectual aspects was
forced upon the Christian movement from the outside. In
large part the rise of heretical movements was due to the
slowness with which Christianity developed intellectually; it
was unable to give leadership and encouragement, much less
stimulation, to those of its number who had intellectual ap-
titudes, so that it became practically necessary for these to

208 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

express themselves outside the church. This phenomenon
appears in the Pastorals. One of the critical problems which
they reflect is that sectaries worm their way among the mem-
bers, particularly among the women, and entice them toward
interest in wrong teaching (2 Tim. 3:6).

Almost all of the items alluded to in the Pastorals which
refer to heretical teaching conform to the known charac-
teristics of Marcionite teaching. Some correspond closely;
some cannot be viewed as related to Marcion's ideas. Those
which are obviously different are the references to Jews who
make trouble (Titus 1:10, 14), and to teaching which in-
volves the use of Scripture in a way which was incompatible
with Marcion's views (i Tim. 1:7-9; Titus 3:9). However,
these may be merely fictitious allusions designed to gain veri-
similitude for the writings by introducing references sug-
gestive of a Pauline situation. A more important item is the
reference to individual teachers, not otherwise known, who
allege that the resurrection had already occurred (2 Tim.
2:18) ; this does not suggest Marcionism. There are also cer-
tain general references which are not identifiable as aspects
of any known sectarian group.

But certain items strikingly suggest the Marcionite situa-
tion. " There is only one God, and one intermediary be-
tween God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave him-
self as a ransom for all men " (i Tim. 2:5). If this is not a
shaft at Marcion's distinction between the just God and the
creator God it is a most unusual coincidence. The statement
about men " who forbid people to marry, and insist on ab-
stinence from certain kinds of food that God created . . .
for everything that God created is good" (4:31".) is par-
ticularly relevant against the background of Marcionite con-

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 209

troversy; the oft-quoted prescription that Timothy should
drink a little wine may be of the same interest. The rhetori-
cal doxology of i Tim. 6:i5f. has particular meaning as
an anti-Marcionite assertion.

Effective as anti-Marcionite propaganda, whether this is
expressed or merely implied, is the famous statement of 2
Timothy 3:16: "All Scripture is divinely inspired, and is
useful. ..." The insistence that all Scripture is divinely in-
spired and useful has the utmost significance when viewed as
a repudiation of Marcion's well-known distinction between
Scripture which taught what he considered to be truth and
Scripture which taught what he conceived to be error. The
emphasis upon all Scripture as against some is particularly
relevant in that Marcion limited, while the general church
fully included, the content of Scripture. It must be empha-
sized that the decisive element in Marcion's use of Scripture
was that he ventured to tamper with an already ancient in-
stitution. This was much more reprehensible than was the
fact that he promulgated unusual views. The spokesman for
the church must defend her institutions.

Last to be mentioned is a datum which may be most strik-
ing of all. First Timothy concludes with advice to " guard
that which has been entrusted to you. Keep away from the
worldly, empty phrases and the antitheses of the falsely so-
called gnosis, through professing which some have made a
failure of the faith " (6:2of.). Is it only a coincidence that
the language of the statement uses the very term which was
used in the title of Marcion's theological treatise, the Anti-
theses? The suggestion that it is actually an allusion to
Marcion's work has been made by as serious a scholar as

TT '

Harnack. 8 Few scholars have been hospitable to the sugges-

210 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

tion; in most cases because it entails a late date for the Pas-
torals. Certainly the coincidence, if it is only a coincidence,
is extraordinary. Even apart from the one term the state-
ment as a whole perfectly suits a situation in which Marcion
or Marcionism is being attacked. The reference strongly
supports the others to the same effect.

It may therefore be said that these, together with other data
of the Pastorals, point to a situation late enough in time and
of such particular character (whatever the place may be)
which reflects the rise of Marcionism as the dominant ele-
ment.

The mention of the statement that all Scripture is divinely
inspired and useful makes it relevant to allude further to this
important item. A minimum of reflection suffices to show
that it assumes the allegorical method of interpretation. This
method had long since been used in Greek localities, and was
particularly current in Alexandria. Its use by Alexandrian
Jewish scholars is familiar. It importantly affected the trans-
lation of Jewish Scripture commonly called the Septuagint.
Its most famous exponent, Philo, used it prolifically. That
the method was adopted by Christians is not surprising. It
may be observed in what is generally considered to be a work
which reflects Alexandria, the Epistle to the Hebrews. It is
to be found in a particular form in the Fourth Gospel, which
has allegories instead of parables.

But the work which is the classic example of Christian use
of allegorical method of interpreting Scripture is the so-called
Epistle of Barnabas. This perfectly illustrates the manner
by which all Scripture was found to be divinely inspired and
useful. The inspiration, even though it was not apparent,
could always be found, granted that the interpreter had

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 211

sufficient ingenuity. This sort of inspiration made the most
unpromising Scripture useful for any purpose toward which
the interpreter worked.

In this light Barnabas is an illuminating commentary on
the Pastorals. They are, of course, dissimilar in many ways.
But in their conception of Christianity, and particularly in
their conception of the Christian task, the one aids in the
understanding of the other. Both are fundamentally un-
Jewish; both are actually hostile to Judaism. But both ap-
propriate Jewish values which they use in anti- Jewish propa-
ganda. Of these the most conspicuous is, of course, Jewish
Scripture the Pastorals use even Jewish apocrypha
which is made to serve Christian and anti- Jewish purpose by
pragmatic interpretation. It is clear, as the Pastorals and
Barnabas are studied, that the latter aids in placing the former
in their situation and in discovering their objective and oc-
casion.

These factors should prepare the student for the judgment
that the Pastorals emerge in the definite period of Christian-
ity's maturing. If there is no discoverable place for them in
the lifetime of Paul, and if theories of genuine Pauline ele-
ments are recognized as essentially useless, there is no alter-
native.

It is sometimes said that the date of the Pastorals is fixed
by their use by Polycarp in his letter. Evidence has been
given to show that the alleged parallels are not convincing,
and to show that such as they are they are readily explicable
as common epigrammatic sayings. Or, as was pointed out,
it would be equally defensible to assert that the Pastorals de-
pend upon Polycarp.

The use of Paul's name in the " letters " aids further in

212 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

discovering the situation of the Pastorals. The alleged
" eclipse " of Paul in the early second century has been re-
f erred to. The usual view is that Paul lost caste because of
Marcion's use of him. However this may be, it must be
recognized that the eclipse of Paul was not as complete as is
usually supposed. Professor Goodspeed has shown that the
collection of Paul's letters placed these in a central position
of ecclesiastical use. First Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp
unite in exalting Paul's heroic reputation. These facts require
heavy discount of the idea that Paul suffered an eclipse. If
the appearance of the Pastorals is placed as next in this se-
quence, their writer must be viewed as doing a thing whose
significance was all the greater when placed against the back-
ground of emerging Marcionism. It was a strategic thing
for the writer of the Pastorals to combat Marcionite propa-
ganda by presenting counter-teaching in the name of Paul.
If Paul had lost in the estimation of certain Christian leaders,
or if he had been rendered less available for use in common
Christian teaching, because Marcion was thought to have
distorted his teaching, this use of his name did much to re-
habilitate him.

"^ Barnabas may be referred to in this connection also. The
Marcionite view was one of the logical positions forced by the
relation of Christianity to Judaism. The opposite position
was taken by " Barnabas," in which Jewish Scripture is used
by understanding it figuratively. This was the issue : a Chris-
tian leader might logically abandon the Jewish Scripture
altogether, or he might use it in ways not at all intended by
it. Allegory made this possible. The Scylla of the Jewish
view and the Charybdis of Marcion's logic were thus alike
avoided by Barnabas and the Pastorals by the use of

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 213

allegory. In this way institutionally minded leaders were
able to preserve Jewish Scripture, and were able to make
some practical use of it; at the same time they were relieved
of the embarrassment occasioned, by the many things which
it plainly says. One of these leaders proceeded in this way,
writing an " episde " under the name of Barnabas; another
wrote three " letters " under the name of Paul.

It is not suggested that the coincidence of the Pastorals and
Barnabas is complete. Each had its own task, which each
met in its own way. However, it is worth pointing out that
the didactic element, much the more fully developed in
Barnabas, is clearly related to the general situation which is
discovered in these later books of the New Testament. Hav-
ing literary relations with the teacher's code which is repre-
sented in the Didache, and drawing much from literary
sources, e.g., the " Two Ways " document also used in the
Didache? largely depending upon Jewish Scripture, Barna-
bas presents Christian teaching as a " new Law " (2 :6) . This
indicates that while the work exhibits knowledge and use of
at least the Matthean gospel, its conception of religious teach-
ing is by no means that in which the gospel type of writing
is exclusively or even primarily used. If there is a difference
between Barnabas and the Pastorals at this point it is the
difference between Asia (or Rome) and Alexandria.

Neither do the Pastorals suggest exclusive or primary
dependence upon the type of tradition represented in the
familiar gospels. The function of the " Faithful Sayings "
clearly proves this; the distinctive formula, used five times,
has its root in another tradition. Equally significant are the
distinctive references to Jesus. These reflect the growing
tradition which resulted at about this time, be it noted

214 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

in the production of " apocryphal " gospels. " Apocryphal "
gospels, it will be remembered, were merely stories of Jesus
on a more thoroughly popular level than the four which more
conservative tradition brought into common and presently
exclusive use in the churches. It is thus that the hymn of i
Timothy 3:16 is to be viewed, with its references to Jesus as
"manifested in flesh, pronounced just by spirit, seen by
angels, heralded among the nations, believed by the world,
ascended in glory." Not all these items can be satisfied by
elements in the four gospels. Again, the reference to Jesus
in 2 Timothy 2:8 is very like the growing creed as it was seen
in the Ignatian Epistles. It is doubtful that i Timothy
6:13-16 is the fruit of the four gospel tradition merely. And
2 Timothy i :<$. has the appearance of typical apocrypha.

It is to the same effect that the Pastorals abound in data
by which legend enriches the figure of Paul. Many such
have contributed to Paul's heroic stature in tradition. It is
instructive to observe this phenomenon operating in Christi-
anity at this time. Providing Paul with heroic stature, par-
ticularly by picturing him as a martyr, is the very thing
done in and by " apocryphal acts " literature, in which every
apostle must be a hero and nearly everyone die a martyr's
death. That this interest was served by the Pastorals con-
clusively demonstrates the point to which Christianity had
developed when they were written.

In fine, the Pastorals exhibit not merely an advanced Chris-
tianity, a Christianity with a controlled officiary, a Christi-
anity with a well-developed content of belief, but a Christi-
anity which is conscious of diversity within itself and able
and ready to invoke the available criteria to determine the
regularity of discipline and the orthodoxy of belief. The

THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES 215

Pastorals are understood when they are viewed against
the background of Marcion and his sectarian movement. It
is probable that their background is the early Marcionism of
Asia Minor, as it was before Marcion came to Rome; it is
emerging Marcionism, rather than the full-fledged theologi-
cal Marcionism.

When they are so viewed the Pastoral Epistles become a
highly important source for the knowledge of Christianity
in a vital situation and at a critical time. It is of slight im-
portance to determine the name of a " heresy " or to cite its
tenets. But it is instructive to observe how the general and a
minority Christian movement function in meeting religious
needs, and to discover how the one group precipitates prob-
lems of discipline for the other. This example exhibits
Christianity as faced with an inevitable consequence of its
diversity and its failure to give sufficient place to the expres-
sion of intellectual aspects of its religious life.

The Pastorals were faced with their sectarian problems
because most Christian leaders had chosen to subordinate
emphasis upon intellectual elements, even though this oc-
casioned the growth of popular movements which arose in
response to this neglect.

In the main, the movement which became Christianity met
with success because it was popular and inclusive. But it was
presently unable to include within itself certain groups which
persisted in keeping the particularly intellectual interests in
the foreground. Forceful leaders representing these as pri-
mary interests developed minority groups which in turn be-
came genuinely social movements. In the beginning they
were all within the bounds of the general " Christian " move-
ment. But when leaders who were also forceful, but who

2i6 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

emphasized other interests as primary, failed to recognize
these as genuine social movements, and thereupon attempted
to draw lines of regularity, discipline and correctness of
belief, the inevitable result was the precipitation of tendencies
into actual sects and heretical movements.

One learns much of the technique of control from the
Pastorals. Ecclesiastical leaders accepted the issue from mi-
nority groups, and proceeded to maintain control by treating
them as outsiders. Whether because of inadequate intellec-
tual capacity, or because of a deliberate disregard of the in-
tellectual aspects of the religious life, such leaders set up
minimum standards to which the adherents of the movement
must conform. "Probably much more was lost than was
gained by so doing. The validity of government through
church rule was preserved, but the consequent impoverish-
ment of judgment on the one hand and the deliberate sacri-
fice of variant judgment and richer intellectual expression
on the other hand were results of serious moment for the
future of the general movement.

XIV

MATURING CHRISTIANITY

if it seems strange to suggest that Christianity was maturing
by the time that the mid-point of the second century was
reached it must be remembered that Christianity had a re-
markably rapid development. It will not seem strange to
the student who views the growth of Christianity with per-
spective. It has been a basic point of view in the present
study that such a perspective is furnished by Christianity's
writings. The fact becomes clear when one reflects that
" Christianity " had nearly twenty years of expansion before
any of its extant writings appeared, that a single leader pro-
duced several writings of which nine are extant in less than
ten years, that several gospel sources, at least four gospels,
and three non-gospel writings appeared in the next thirty
years, and that the next fifty years saw the appearance and
survival of twenty-five or more works of several different
types. 1 One must remember also that the latest books of the
New Testament are contemporaneous with the literature of
defense represented by the political and cultural apologies, 2
that by this time the " apocryphal " gospels flourished, 3 and
that the martyrologies soon after were popular. 4 One then
sees that Christianity's maturity is indicated by its writings.
Doubtless the strangeness in the suggestion obtains because
the writings of the New Testament are usually considered by
themselves, apart from the " non-canonical " writings. It

2i 8 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

is high time that the abstraction, the distinction between
New Testament and extra-New Testament sources be aban-
doned. All sources are useful for the study of the religious
life of the early Christians.

Indeed, such works as the Epistle of Jude and 2 Peter can-
not be understood unless they are studied as products of
maturing Christianity, and are studied on the basis of con-
temporary sources.

When they are so studied, they are readily understood and
appreciated. Their major problems are simple, given the
background of maturing Christianity. The manner in which
they met their problems is simple. The primary point is
that which was common from the time that the unnamed
elder asserted his authority against Diotrephes; indeed, it
was not unknown before the problem of control of
minority groups within the general Christian movement.

For the writer of Jude the problem was precipitated by
persons who had sneaked into the group and were using
their privilege of membership to develop among the group
practices which were repugnant. To the writer these prac-
tices are positively immoral.

It is interesting that heretical teachings were not the most
important element in this sectarian problem. Perhaps this
is because " Jude " is not distinguished as an intellectual
leader.

He meets his problem, not by demonstrating the errors of
the sectaries, but by calling them names, trusting that the
use of effective epithets will cancel their influence. Very
likely it did; this method has always been used by majority
leaders, and it came to be characteristic of orthodox leader-
ship.

MATURING CHRISTIANITY 219

It is of prime importance that Jude as leader of the ma-
jority group appeals to authority to establish his case. His
authority is Scripture and " the words spoken before by the
apostles." He is catholic in his use of Scripture, alluding to
standard Jewish writings and also to two books which are
Scripture to him, although their status was uncertain to many
Jews, i.e., the Assumption of Moses and some form of the
book of Enoch. Doubtless Jude was an ardent apocalyptist,
although the brevity of his " epistle " does not permit him
to expound this aspect of his religious outlook. The manner
in which he cites the authority of the apostles is noteworthy;
evidently by the time he wrote the apostles had arisen to high
dignity. This trend has been mentioned. It has been ob-
served in such works as " The Teaching of the Lord through
the Twelve Apostles to the Nations," the Epistle of Barnabas,
and the Pastorals. Indeed, it was not long after Jude was
written that another pious leader put into writing the
" Epistle of the Apostles." Finally, the use of Jude by the
writer of 2 Peter puts the point beyond doubt: by the middle
of the second century the word of the apostles was taken with
great seriousness by Christian communities, and was used
with great effect by Christian leaders.

What is seen in Jude is still more obvious in 2 Peter. The
fact of pseudonymity, together with the studied attempt at
verisimilitude, unmistakably points to a situation in which
maturing Christianity is instructed by the figure of a leader
long since dead, about whose memory weighty authority
coheres. Appealing to Peter, the point is made explicit that
his guidance will be valuable after his death: " I will hasten
so that upon every occasion after my going away you may
recall these things to memory " (i :i5) . This and the former

220 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

epistle (the reference to i Peter is of course an attempt at
verisimilitude) have been written " to stir up your sincere
mind by putting you in remembrance" (3:1). Effort is
made to invest the figure of Peter with reality; he is not only
the author of this and the earlier epistle, but a brother of Paul
(3:15), and one of those who heard God's voice when
(as is said in coincidence with an item, of gospel tradi-
tion) the writer was with Jesus "in the holy mountain"
(1:18).

For this writer, Scripture (including Christian Scripture)
is not merely authoritative, but is part of the institutional
equipment of Christian groups. Another highly important
point is that this Scripture is not open to private interpreta-
tion. It is the official interpretation of Scripture, such as the
writer is supplying, which is authoritative. It is a repre-
hensible matter, in the writer's view, that some have misin-
terpreted Paul's letters, as they have wrongly handled the
other Scriptures (3:16). Because of this, presumably, the
rule is laid down by the authority of Peter, of course
Ithat no prophecy of Scripture is amenable to private inter-
pretation (1:20). It is apparent that several categories are
included here: the words of the prophets, the ordinances of
the Lord which have come through the apostles (3:2), and
the letters of Paul. Probably other apostolic writings, such
as i Peter, are also in view.

Indeed, the library of Christian Scripture of which the
writer of 2 Peter exhibits acquaintance is of astonishing
range. He specifically mentions the letters of Paul, implying
their use as a corpus, and alludes to i Peter. Since most of
Jude is incorporated it is plain that this small work was
known and appreciated. The allusion to the heavenly voice

MATURING CHRISTIANITY 221

(1:17) indicates the use of the Matthean gospel. The refer-
ence to Peter's predicted death strongly suggests the use of
the Fourth Gospel in the form which possessed the epilogue
of chapter 21, and this, in turn, suggests that the fourfold
gospel was known. Certainly apocalyptic works were
known (2:2, n), and the particular references to the end of
the age (3:7-13) and to the place of departed spirits (2:4^
demonstrate the writer's fondness for lore such as made up
the writings which were for a time on the fringe of standard
collections of Christian Scripture.

The situation which 2 Peter was written to meet seems to
have been essentially the same as that faced by the writer of
Jude. What difference appears in their ways of meeting it
is due to this writer's greater intellectual capacity, even
though this merely takes the form of authoritative use of
Scripture for disciplinary purpose. Obviously he is clever
and effective in deriving pragmatic meanings from Scrip-
ture, and it is an aspect of his leadership that he is able to lay
these down as official interpretations with sufficient sanction
to secure the control for which he labors.

These late works abandon creative experience in favor of
patterned behavior based upon apostolic tradition and writ-
ten Scripture. This conclusively indicates their witness to
maturing Christianity. They use the authority of antiquity,
of tradition, and of written word to secure sanction. Even
a cursory reading shows the great gulf between the free
abandon of spiritistic expression which characterized the
early Pauline communities and the conventionalized living
which is expected of church people by the writers of Jude
and 2 Peter. Nor is there anything which corresponds to
the richer and more broadly based experience which one

222 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

finds in the life which lies back of the gospel pericopes.
Adventurous living has given way to standardized behavior.

To be sure, the standard is high and strictly moral. It is
further to be observed that 2 Peter has gone far in taking
over Hellenized manners and culture. But it is plain that
in securing stability and quasi-permanence for Christianity,
much of the charm of the genuinely primitive Christianity
was given up.

Second Peter thus exhibits a type of Christian living which
bridged the development from the adventitious and the
fortuitous expansion of early Christianity to the stable and
permanently established movement which won its way in
the ancient world by the absorption of competing groups.
The issue with the sectaries was met by imposing of disci-
plinary control which, while not so strict as to repel large
numbers, was yet sufficiently strong to bring into being the
Catholic Christianity which appeared a generation later.
The problems presented by the social and cultural relations
with the people of the world in which the Christians lived
were met by an increasing adaptation and adjustment. The
presently emerging problems of explicit opposition were
met as Christians increased in number. As yet, of course,
these were not pressing problems.

Maturity may also be seen in the fact already emphasized,
that Christians were able to introduce standards of measure-
ment of orthodoxy and loyalty, and by the complementary
fact that leaders were equipped with arguments for Chris-
tianity's defense. It should be remembered that 2 Clement
appeared at about the time of 2 Peter; the former utilized
the preacher's method, while the latter is the product of one
whose abilities were in the realm of administration. Or,

MATURING CHRISTIANITY 223

looking in the other direction, it was not long after the writ-
ino~ of 2 Peter that the formal literature of defense was in
production. Second Peter appeared at the point of transition.

On the other hand, the more popular aspects of Chris-
tianity in the period of emerging maturity are to be seen in
those works which the author of 2 Peter viewed with some
distaste. While, as has been mentioned, he seems to have
known and used some works which were on the fringe of
standard use, it is a striking fact that the " apocryphal "
gospel tradition, abundantly witnessed in 2 Clement (5,
n, 12), appears in 2 Peter only in its formulation of the
decensus tradition (2:4 ff). Doubtless the luxuriant growth
which is but faintly suggested by the known " apocryphal "
gospels was distrusted, since it lent itself too readily to the
private and unauthorized interpretation which the writer
opposes.

It will be profitable to recall, also, that the period of Jude
and 2 Peter was the period when the miscalled " Western "
text reached its first flourishing. 5 The value of this observa-
tion appears when it is recalled that this " text " is truly ap-
prehended as many popular texts, in which numerous items
of tradition appear which brought into the gospel traditions
so much of their legendary content. The most striking
examples are the well-known stories of the woman taken in
adultery and the man working on the sabbath. These re-
mind one that popular texts (reflected in the authorities of
the so-called Western text) were vehicles for the propaga-
tion of many items of gospel and apostolic tradition which
were very like the elements of the apocryphal gospels and

acts. 6

It is in such perspective that the meaning of 2 Peter is per-

224 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

ceived. It reflects the leadership which brought out of the
diverse trends in middle second century Christianity the
order which it achieved, the order which made for stability,
organization and permanence. There is no value in regret-
ting the loss of primitivity, any more than bemoaning the
loss of the charm of infancy as the child becomes the youth
and the youth becomes the adult. It is instructive to observe
how Christianity grew; the processes by which its infancy
and childhood were succeeded by sturdy maturity are not
less important, even though they are usually thought to be
less interesting, than its genetic relations and its beginnings.
It has been observed that early Christianity was character-
ized by a wide variety of types of religious living. This fact
goes far to explain the trends which are observable in ma-
turing Christianity. The life of the Palestinian communities
could never have become the common pattern of Christians
living in the widespread localities of the larger Mediter-
ranean world. The people of the Palestinian communities
were never numerous, and very quickly they became a small
minority as the transition to gentile environments occurred.
With no essential aspects of the religious life to distinguish
them from their (Jewish) neighbors, it was inevitable that
others than the Palestinian " Christians " would effect the
distinctive qualities in the Christian movement. But equally
inevitably the Pauline communities, unless they had changed
rapidly and fundamentally, could never have established
Christianity as a well-grounded religious movement. Their
spiritism was individualistic; it would have been divisive in
the earlier days, as Montanism was sectarian later in its re-
affirmation of spiritistic experience. Only the adaptability
of the Pauline communities permitted them to function use-

MATURING CHRISTIANITY 225

fully in the transition from a basically other-worldly move-
ment to a social movement of this world.

As has been shown, the leadership which is exhibited in
the production and the organization of the gospel materials
is that in which the stabilizing forces of Christianity are to
be observed. Even of these there were elements which had
to be discarded. The enthusiasm for apocalyptic deliver-
ance had to be abandoned or replaced by another zeal. A
number of the social and moral standards of the leaders who
produced the gospels proved to be impractical, for example,
the radical antipathy toward wealth. But it is a fact of
central importance that there was in Christianity an adapt-
ability which enabled it to effect needed changes. Now in
the period of the later books of the New Testament there
first appears that subtle and hardly definable quality which
came a little later 7 to characterize Catholic Christianity:
that quality of tolerance, of acceptance with broad sympathy,
of inclusiveness. The absorption of all sorts of people in-
volved the attitude of tolerance of popular tendencies, so
that the fondness for popular miraculous tales and the at-
tachment of marvelous stories to prominent persons received
adequate expression. Thus the apostles achieved their places
of distinction to the point that they were hardly below Jesus
as symbols about which the aura of authority developed.

The point at which positions of leadership came to possess
desirability is the turning point at which the growing sta-
bility of the Christian movement passed to that degree of
maturity which is seen at the mid-point of the second cen-
tury. The increase in the number of Christians, together
with the latitude which was an inevitable concomitant of
inclusiveness, had the natural result that as an average was

226 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

lowered by numbers, so also the quality of leadership was
less exceptional. Obviously the writer of the Pastorals was a
lesser man than Paul, the writer of the Johannine letters
than the writer of the Fourth Gospel, of Jude than the writer
of Hebrews. Not that these were of low order, either in
quality or ability. It is merely that there were essential dif-
ferences in the Christian movement as a whole, and that
these differences had far-reaching effects in particulars, in-
cluding the outlook and the achievements of leaders. When,
not long after, situations occurred which required heroic
leaders, the Christian movement and the situations produced
them. But the necessities of the middle second century did
not produce a Tertullian, a Clement of Alexandria, a Hip-
polytus. They did produce Polycarp and Justin. These
men were equal to their occasions.

It must not be forgotten that the appealing qualities of
popular Christianity were at this very time expressing them-
selves in the production of still more stories of Jesus and of
the apostles. These are the days when the Gospel accord-
ing to the Hebrews was highly influential, when the figure
of John was attracting a variety of adventurous experiences
(in debate with heretics, surviving attempts to put him to
death, 8 et cetera), and when the romantic and fanciful
" acta " stories were springing up to invest the figure of
every apostle with remarkable stature. Soon, as the almost
contemporaneous Martyrdom of Polycarp shows, the cult of
the martyrs was a recognized institution, 9 adding a wealth
of detail to the rapidly growing reputation of the saints.
Documents containing these traditions and stories presently
had wide circulation. These stories and documents were
so popular that they could not fail to attain widespread

MATURING CHRISTIANITY 227

currency. Occasionally, as in Jude, 2 Peter and 2 Clement,
one may catch a glimpse of them reflected in writings which
have been preserved; it is a fair inference that these glimpses
represent a mere fraction of their total currency.

These were the forces which led Christian officials and
writers in the middle of the second century to make use of
the legendary figures of the apostles to promote Christianity
as they thought it should be developed. Doubtless it was
easier for the people of the churches to revere a Paul, a Peter,
or a Barnabas, men such as they had seen, than to depend
solely upon a deified Lord for the concrete authority needed
for the practical matters of the common life. There can be
no doubt that the function of the host of intermediary saints,
which attained such high development later, was effective
in the days when the Christian movement was exhibiting
the first signs of its emerging maturity.

It was thus easy and effective, as well as eminently useful,
to articulate religious teaching in the variety of ways which
are to be observed in these sources. Teaching was articu-
lated in letters ascribed to Paul, Barnabas and Peter. Apoca-
lyptic was even then shading over to the substitute which
presently took its place, the martyrology. 10 Some of the basic
conceptions of earlier apocalyptic had already given place to
quite opposite Hellenistic conceptions: 2 Peter uses the term
and the thoroughly Greek conception of Tartarus, and cites
the first use of the chiliastic notion (2:4, 3:8), and the so-
called Apocalypse of Peter has already gone the full length
of transforming the conception of punishment after death
from Jewish to thoroughly Greek terms. 11 New and popular
stories of Jesus were appearing (in apocryphal gospels and in
the various forms of the so-called Western text). Such new

228 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

gospels as appeared differed from the now firmly established
fourfold gospel in the direction of popular interests. The
same popular interests expressed themselves particularly
with reference to the apostles; it was now essential to show
that the individual works of the fourfold gospel could be
attached to or at least connected with apostles. It was not
long after these days that the then orally current stories were
written in the " acts " of the several apostles. Soon the high
claim was made for a noble bishop that besides being a
martyr he was a prophetic and an apostolic teacher (Mart.
Pol. 16:2). It was already sufficient for an anonymous docu-
ment of unusual form to have the title: " The Teaching of
the Lord through the Twelve Apostles." Not yet, to be sure,
was the homily of James ascribed to James of Jerusalem,
nor was the Jude of the Epistle identified as the brother of
that James. But in the pseudonymous letters of Paul, Barna-
bas and Peter the trend is sufficiently indicated.

The initial creative period in the growth of Christianity
had indeed passed. Christianity, now spoken of by its lead-
ers as such, had achieved solidarity. Consciousness of itself
had led by this time to full consciousness of difference from
others. The battle with Jewish opponents was long since
over. At present there was in the absence of pressure from
the State a period in which the major problems of maturing
Christianity were internal. To be sure, already more than
one sharp conflict with the officials of Roman conservatism
had drawn lines between people of the churches and people
of cults approved (or at least not disapproved) by the State.
Functioning as a salvation cult, it was still advantageous for
a Christian society to be able to point to similarities with
others of such cults. The old apocalypticism had made the

MATURING CHRISTIANITY 229

necessary concessions to Hellenistic culture and had receded
into the background. There had been a general, if at first
unconscious, acceptance of this world. No longer merely
nor even primarily urban, cults of Jesus were now well dis-
tributed on all shores of the Mediterranean, usually well es-
tablished to some distance inland. 12

The measure by which to scale these phenomena is fur-
nished when it is recognized that some of the Apologies were
already in circulation, and that the best and most typical
examples of this form were soon to appear. It is indicative
of Christianity's past that the initial impulses in these works
was the argument over the relative values of Christianity and
Judaism (although it should be recognized that these argu-
ments were made on the basis of literary, rather than experi-
ential, awareness of Judaism; it should also be borne in
mind that the arguments in favor of Christianity and in dis-
paragement of Judaism were written by the same person
for the apologist Judaism was merely a man of straw set
up only to be knocked down). Especially significant is the
way in which the earlier of these, but of course most particu-
larly such works as Justin's Dialogue with Trypho and his
Apology with its supplement, reflect the advanced adapta-
tion to contemporary Graeco-Roman culture. They plainly
show that the Christian movement could now make a strong
bid for recognition, both as a cult among other cults, and as
a movement which was worthy of legal permission by the
State. It was not long until the bid for recognition as a
movement with cultural status was made in an abundant
literature of (cultural) defense.

In their administration the churches were now directed
by officials whose duties were specifically and definitely de-

230 EARLY CHRISTIAN LIFE

termined. Their offices brought social recognition of some
sort. They also brought lucrative reward. For both these
reasons offices were sought.

Leaders now looked back to find in tradition and in writ-
ings which had been produced by their own movement the
necessary guidance in meeting new problems. The writings
were used in collections; there were New Testaments beside
the Old Testament. 13 Jewish Scripture had, indeed, been
appropriated so completely that a Christian apologist could
accuse Jews of mutilating, in their own interests, the writings
which were regarded by Christians as really their own (Jus-
tin, Dialogue, Ixxi-lxxiii; compare Pseudo- Justin, Hortatory
Address, xiii).

Communication between far distant groups was main-
tained. This was affecting ecclesiastical administration;
certain bishops were recognized as of right exercising large
government. These not infrequently discussed questions of
custom, of discipline, of teaching with one another, 14 so that
more general conformity was appearing. It is significant
that the status recognized as that of Catholic Christianity
was reached in less than fifty years from the point here
characterized (i.e., that marked by the appearance of the
latest books of the New Testament) as that of maturing
Christianity. Such a Christianity was able, when need arose,
to grapple with the State. As early as the days of its emerg-
ing maturity Christianity's future was assured.

To close the study at this point necessarily requires the
omission of a number of interesting factors. The rise of a
Christian intellectualism worthy of the name was yet to
occur; as yet no Origen, nor any Clement of Alexandria, had
appeared. Second, the triumph over the State, although

MATURING CHRISTIANITY 231

potentially prepared for, was yet to come. Third, the cleav-
age between East and West was not perceptible except as
the variety which characterized nascent Christianity from
its beginnings is plainly to be seen. However, Christianity
as it matured was yet a Greek movement; Latin Christianity,
if there was any such, was registered only in the private life
and speech of those who were not in position to articulate
the judgments and standards which are made by leaders.

However, the religious life which is seen in early Christian
literature is the force which effected Christianity's integra-
tion in the Mediterranean world. To observe its expression
in the variety of forms which are seen in Christianity's writ-
ings is to observe an organic growth. From it the student
learns of the development from nascent Christianity to
Christianity's maturity.

NOTES

PART ONE

BEFORE THE GOSPELS

I. BEGINNINGS

1. The reference is to the spiritistic behavior which certainly characterized
members of the Pauline communities, probably characterized members of other
Hellenistic communities, and was said to have characterized the primitive
Palestinian disciples. See Case, The Evolution of Early Christianity (Chicago,
1914), i28ff.

2. The qualification is important; it is not to be concluded that aspects of
behavior which are to be observed in cases of the noteworthy few characterized
the many. It is of further importance to permit this distinction to occasion a
broader generalization: there were varying types of experience and behavior; no
one pattern was normative for all, nor was any pattern generally observed.

3. A scientific attempt to determine probability points in this direction, rather
than in the direction suggested by Luke-Acts, in which there is a definite " the-
ory " of Christianity's expansion. It is suggested by Luke- Acts that gentile Chris-
tianity was implicit in the teachings of Jesus, but that by divine direction the
disciples were at first limited to Jerusalem and to Jews, so that the transition to
gentile environments occurred only gradually. The very details of Luke-Acts it-
self contradict this, however. See Riddle, Jesus and the Pharisees (Chicago,
1928), 50-66.

4. Obviously the point of view maintained above uses the early chapters of
the Acts section of Luke-Acts very critically. As was remarked in Note 3, these
chapters develop a " theory " which is too logical and too schematic to be
plausible. The view presented here is an attempt to infer from the sources a
sequence which seems to be probable. It is more than doubtful that nascent
Christianity was restricted to Jerusalem and to Jews, and was offered to native
Hellenists only after it had reached Antioch.

H. THE PRIMITIVE PREACHING

1. See Dibelius, Formgeschichte des Evangeliums (Tubingen, 1933), 8-33;
English translation by Woolf, From Tradition to Gospel (London, 1934), 9-36.

2. The meaning of the term " ecclesia " should not be regarded as indicating
a uniform or a definitely organized group for every cult of disciples. However,

2-33

234 NOTES

it is highly probable that groups were formed, whatever was their name or
nature. There are later references to " synagogai " (James 2:2, Ignatius, Epistle
to Polycarp 4:2, Hermas, Mandate XI, 9, 13, 14). But Paul's references to "the
churches in Judea " (i Thess. 2:14, Gal. 1:22) show that the association of
believers into groups was not an exclusive feature of the Pauline communities.

3. It must be emphasized that these illustrations are not to be regarded as
of universal reference. It must constantly be remembered that Pauline " Christi-
anity " was not typical of all " Christianity."

4. The people of the " churches in Judea," doubtless nearly all of them
Jewish, were very probably exceptions to this. However, they were in the
minority in emerging Christianity from an early time.

III. PAUL

1. The point is made explicit in the "Western " text of Acts 18:25, which
says that Apollos " had been instructed in the Lord's word in his own country."

2. This is stated by Luke-Acts, and, what is more significant, is a certain
inference from Paul's letters.

3. See, for example, Charles, Religious Development Between the Old and
the New Testaments (New York, undated), and Charles, Eschatology: Hebrew,
Jewish, and Christian (London, 1913).

4. Herford, Pharisaism; its Aim and Method (London, 1912), The Pharisees
(New York, 1924), Judaism in the New Testament Period (London, 1928);
Abrahams, Judaism (London, 1910), Studies in Pharisaism and the Gospels
(Cambridge, 1917, 1924); Dibelius, Die urchristliche V berlieferung von Johannes
dem Taufer (Gottingen, 1911), Die Geisterwelt im Glauben des Paulas (Got-
tingen, 1909); Moore, Judaism (Cambridge, 1927-30).

5. See Enslin, "Paul and Gamaliel," Journal of Religion, 7(1927) :s6o-375.

6. Case, "The Jewish Bias of Paul," Journal of Biblical Literature, 47(1928):
20-31.

7. Wendland, Die hellenistisch-romische Kultur (Tubingen, 1907), igt.

8. Case, The Evolution of Early Christianity (Chicago, 1914), no; K. L.
Schmidt, Die Stellung des Apostels Paulus im Urchristentum (Giessen, 1924).

9. It is possible that the stories related in the latter volume of Luke-Acts are
too schematic at this point also. Schwartz in a critical study of the " missionary
journeys " concludes that the " first " and " second " are stories of one journey
(E. Schwartz, "Zur Chronologic des Paulus," Gottingische Nachrichten, 1907,

26 3 ff.).

IV. THE EARLIEST EXTANT CHRISTIAN WRITING

i. It is probable that too rigid an orthodoxy obtains in inferring the sequence
of Paul's letters. The student's mind should be open tq suggestion of new
sequences. For example, my friend Dr. John Knox has fruitfully observed that
the statistics of " fourteen years " in Galatians and 2 Corinthians indicate the

NOTES 235

practical contemporaneousness of these two works (" Fourteen Years Later, A
Note on the Pauline Chronology," Journal of Religion, 16(1936) 1341-49).
The theory o an Ephesian or the Caesarean imprisonment being the situation
of certain letters may indicate the need of revising traditional sequence.

2. The usual sequence of i and 2 Thessalonians and Galatians is followed.
It does not appear that particular value results from the treatment of Galatians
as the first Pauline letter; cf. Emmett, St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (London,
1912), Duncan, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians (New York, 1934). On
the other hand, it is an important element in a decisive point of view that Paul
began to write only after he set foot on the continent of Europe.

3. The ancient argument concerning the destination of Galatians may be re-
viewed in Moffatt, Introduction to the Literature of the New Testament (New
York, 1918), 90-101, a defense of the North Galatian theory, and in Burton,
International Critical Commentary, Galatians (New York, 1920), xvii-xliv, a
maintenance of the South Galatian theory.

4. References in the sources to Cephas and to Peter (the latter frequently
with another name) suffice to raise a reasonable doubt that Cephas and Peter
are the same person. See Lake, " Simon, Cephas, Peter," Harvard Theological
Review, 14(1921) :95~97- It is well, at all events, to use the particular name
cited in the source.

5. Colwell, " Christianity a Gentile Religion in Galatians 2:14," Anglican
Theological Review, 14(1932) :42~47-

6. Since the Greek and corresponding Hebrew terms for " pronounce
acquitted," " just," and " justness " are to a considerable degree forensic, it is
essential to keep their quasi-technical sense in mind. See the extended Note
on these terms in Burton, op. cit., 460-474.

7. It is a point of essential distinction that to Paul the Torah was regarded
almost exclusively in the statutory sense, which only in imperfect part indicates
its true meaning. The fact largely accounts for Paul's antipathy to Torah. See
Montefiore, Judaism and St. Paul (New York, 1915).

8. See Burton, op. cit., 215, 5ioff.; Lohmeyer, Colossians (Meyer Com-
mentary) (Gottingen, 1930), 103!?.

9. The first appearance in the sources of a persistent problem: the relation
of the spirit life and the moral life. See below, and Notes.

10. Riddle, "The So-Called Jewish Christians," Anglican Theological Re-
view, 12(1930) :i5~33; Cadbury, "The Hellenists," in Lake and Cadbury, The
'Beginnings of Christianity, Vol. V (London, 1933), 59-74.

11. Ropes, The Singular Problem of the Epistle to the Galatians (Cam-
bridge, 1929).

12. Ropes, op. cit., and Liitgert, Gesetz und Geist, eine Vntersuchung zur
Vorgeschichte des Galaterbriefes (Giitersloh, 1909), Freiheitspredigt und Schwarm-
geister in Korinth (ibid., 1908).

13. The logical contradiction of this is well pointed out by Enslin, The
Ethics of Paul (New York, 1930), and by Andrews, The Ethical Teaching of
Paul (Chapel Hill, 1934).

236 NOTES

14. It is important to observe that in this discussion Paul is careful to dis-
tinguish between advice given on his own judgment and that which was " o{
the Lord" (i Cor. 7:10, n). Doubtless the distinction was based upon the
difference in judgments obtained by the exercise of rational thought and those
which came from spiritistic experience; Paul closes the discussion by insisting
that he has " spirit of God " (7:40). It is probable, also, that the deprecation of
marriage is to be taken much less as an indication of ascetic tendencies in Paul's
life, but much more as an implication of his apocalyptic expectation.

15. It is a striking fact that the best attested reading implies the integrity of
the twelve as a group during the " resurrection appearances." That is, this is
a reflection of a genuinely primitive situation, antedating the reflection and
theologizing which resulted in the articulation of the gospel traditions which
characterize one of the twelve (why was it Judas?) as a traitor. The passage
when so viewed is an instructive illustration of the methodological point that
the gospel traditions are later and pragmatic (and in this case aetiological)
stories.

1 6. The now generally accepted reconstruction of the Corinthian correspond-
ence may be read in any competent handbook, e.g., Moffatt, Introduction, 108-
130. The most influential dissent is registered by Windisch, Der ztueite Korin-
ther brief (Meyer Commentary) (Gottingen, 1924).

17. See Enslin, op. cit., 1-59.

1 8. This is a highly important contribution made by Andrews in the work
cited and in " The Problem of Motive in the Ethics of Paul," Journal of Religion,
13 (i933) =200-215.

19. The questions of the integrity and of the destination of Romans should
be carefully investigated and taken into account. They are fully discussed in
Lake, The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul (London, 1911), 325-370.

20. See Case, Journal of Biblical Literature, 47(1928) :2gf., Ropes, " The
Epistle to the Romans and Jewish Christianity" in Case (editor), Studies in
Early Christianity (New York, 1928), 353, 365, and Andrews, The Ethical
Teaching of Paul (Chapel Hill, 1934), 151.

21. This is discussed fully by Deissmann in a monograph, Die neutesta-
mentliche Forme! 'in Christo Jesu' (Marburg, 1892), and in his Paulus (English
translation, Paul) (New York, 1926), passim,

22. The mystical background of the Pauline type of experience is excellently
described in Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration (Chicago, 1927).

23. There is a large bibliography on this matter; it is reported to the date
1925 in Deissmann, Paul (London, 1926), 17, Note. An excellent discussion in
English is in Duncan, St. Paul's Ephesian Ministry (London, 1929).

24. Lohmeyer, Philippians, and Colossians-Philemon, in the Meyer Com-
mentary.

25. See, for example, beside standard handbooks of introduction and recent
commentaries, the remarks in Lake, Landmarks in the History of Early Chris-
tianity (New York, 1922), 928., and Goodspeed, "The Place of Ephesians in
the First Pauline Collection," Anglican Theological "Review, 12 (1930):! 89-212.

NOTES 237

26. This may be considered as established in view o the discussion in Loh-
meyer's Colossians.

27. Holtzmann, Kritil^ der Epheser- und Kolosserbriefe (Leipzig, 1927).

28. Goodspeed, New Solutions of New Testament Problems (Chicago, 1928),
The Meaning of Ephesians (Chicago, 1933), and the article referred to in
Note 25.

29. Lightfoot, The Epistles of St. Paul: Philip flans (London, 1885), 4off.

30. Lohmeyer, Philippians.

31. Lohmeyer, Colossians.

32. See the excellent statement in Willoughby, Pagan Regeneration (Chicago,
1927).

33. Weidinger, Die Haustajeln (Leipzig, 1928).

34. The distinction is emphasized by Lake, both by implication of the title
of his earlier work, The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul, and expressly in his Land-
mar\s in the History of Early Christianity, p. 93. There seems to be litde point
in the distinction, however. It is highly probable that the longer period of time
between Paul's " conversion " and the writing of his first letter was the period
for the development of his religious conceptions and convictions, rather than
the briefer time which elapsed between the writing of his earliest and his latest
letters. The data noted by Lightfoot, which make an earlier ; date for Philippians
defensible, cannot easily be disposed of. The theories of an Ephesian imprison-
ment readily lend themselves to a reconsideration of the dates of the supposedly
"later" letters.

35. E.g., in Charles, Eschatology: Hebrew, Jewish, and Christian (London,
1913), 46iff.

36. Not only the statements in Goodspeed, The Meaning of Ephesians
(Chicago, 1933), but the excellent discussion of Philemon by Knox in Philemon
Among the Letters of Paul; A New View, of Its Place and Importance (Chicago,,
1935) should be carefully noted.

37. There is a classical defense of this view by Ramsay in Pauline and Other
Studies (New York, undated), 49-100.

V. NON-PAULINE CHRISTIANITY BEFORE THE GOSPELS

THE GOSPEL MATERIALS

1. This generalization is now a century old. First adumbrated by Lach-
mann in 1835, the demonstration was made by Weisse, Die evangelische Ge-
schichte fyitisch und philosophise/! bearbeitet, 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1838) and by
Wilke, Der Ut -evangelist (Dresden u. Leipzig, 1838).

2. A representative statement of a once very popular theory is that of Wright,
The Composition of the Four Gospels (London, 1890), A Synopsis of the Gospels
in Gree\ (London, 1896).

3. It is important to observe that " some " total is all that can be said; the
" reconstructions " of " Q " varied widely in the detail of exactly how much or

238 NOTES

what non-Marcan material should be considered as part of the " second source."
This fatal variation is plainly shown in the representative Tables exhibited in
MofTatt's Introduction, pp. 197-202, which should be carefully studied.

4. Burton, " Some Principles of Literary Criticism as Applied to the Synoptic
Gospels," The Decennial Publications (Chicago, 1904).

5. Streeter, The Four Gospels (London, 1924); Taylor, Behind the Thiid
Gospel (London, 1926).

6. A convenient "reconstruction" of this hypothetical document may be
seen in Theology, 14 (1927) -.133-1 64.

7. E.g., Bussmann, Synoptische Studien, 3 vols. (Halle, 1925-31).

8. Schmidt, Die Stellung der Evangelien in der allgemeinen Literaturgeschiche
(Gottingen, 1923); reprinted from Eucharisterion (Gottingen, 1923).

9. Schmidt, Der Rahmen der Geschichte Jesu (Berlin, 1919).

10. Dibelius, Formgeschichte des Evangeliums (Tubingen, 1919, 33); Bult-
mann, Die Geschichte der synoptischen Tradition (Gottingen, 1921, 32).

11. Grant, Form Criticism (Chicago, 1934); see also the same author's The
Growth oj the Gospels (New York, 1933).

12. Albertz, Die synoptische Streitgesprache (Berlin, 1921).

13. The chapter on " The Primitive Preaching " should be carefully studied
(German edition, pp. 8-34, English translation, pp. 9-36).

THE GOSPEL SOURCES

14. Bertram, Die Leidensgeschichte Jesu und der Christuskult (Gottingen,
1922).

15. Albertz, op. cit.

1 6. Riddle, " The Structural Units of the Gospel Tradition," Journal oj Bibli-
cal Literature, 55(1936) 145-58.

17. This has been recognized and generally admitted. See, for example,
MofTatt, Introduction, 207-209, and Colani, Jesus-Christ et les croyances mes-
sianiques de son temps (Strasbourg, 1864).

1 8. As was remarked above, this is plainly shown by the Tables exhibited
in Moff art's Introduction, pp. 197-202.

19. Earlier works on this theory are mentioned in a study which applies it:
Barney, The Aramaic Original of the Fourth Gospel (Oxford, 1922), 2f. The
current application of the theory is made by Torrey, in The Four Gospels (New
York, 1933)-

20. See, for example, the criticism of a recognized Semitist, G. A. Barton,
in the Journal of Theological Studies, 36(1935) -357~373-

21. Riddle, "The Logic of the Theory of Translation Greek," Journal of
Biblical Literature, 51 (1932) 113-30. A rejoinder was made by Burrows, Journal
of Biblical Literature, 53(1934) :i3~30. See, further. Riddle, " The Aramaic Gos-
pels and the Synoptic Problem," Journal of Biblical Literature 54(1935) U27-I38.

22. Bultmann, op. cit., 393f.

23. The implied qualification is made for two reasons. First, it is significant

NOTES 239

that some form of the "ur-Marcus" theory persistently recurs (cf. Goguel,
"Luke and Mark, with a discussion of Streeter's theory," Harvard Theological
Review, 26(1933) :i-55). Second, the differences in the degree of similarity
or closeness of parallel between Mark and another gospel insistently raise the
question whether the relation which appears is between the given gospel and
Mark, or between the given gospel and some other current form of the independ-
ent pericope (i.e., some form of the pericope which obtained independently of
the Marcan gospel). This important question requires much further and very
thorough research.

24. This point is familiar. It is made by such dissimilar approaches as those
of Moffatt, Introduction, 207-209, and Bultmann, op. cit., 39sf.

25. All the sources of the Burton-Goodspeed theory may be seen in " recon-
struction" in Sharman, Records of the Life of Jesus (Chicago, 1917), or may
be identified by using a Burton-Goodspeed Harmony: A Harmony of the Syn-
optic Gospels (New York, 1917), A Harmony of the Synoptic Gospels in Greek
(Chicago, 1920). A study of the Jerusalem Document has been published:
Perry, The Sources of Lube's Passion Narrative (Chicago, 1919). The Matthean
Document has been studied in an unpublished doctoral dissertation: The Source
of the Matthean Logia, by R. R. Brewer, Ph.D. (University of Chicago Libraries,
1929).

26. The use of the plural hi the Greek shows the intended purpose.

27. Riddle, The Martyrs, A Study in Social Control (Chicago, 1931), 20,
40, 45, 47f.

PART TWO

THE GOSPEL-MAKING PERIOD
VI. THE GOSPELS

1. This important point should be determined, if possible. It is discussed,
either directly or by implication, in Riddle, " The So-Called Jewish-Christians,"
Anglican Theological Review, 12(1930) :i5~33, and in Cadbury, "The Hellen-
ists," Lake and Cadbury, The Beginnings of Christianity, Vol. V (London, 1933):
59-74; cf- Schmidt, Die Stellung des Apostels Paulus im Urchristentum (Giessen,
1924), and Bauer, Antiochea in der altesten Kirchengeschichte (Tubingen, 1909).

2. See especially the two last-named studies in the note above, and Case,
The Evolution of Early Christianity (Chicago, 1914).

3. This is another point of basic importance. It is discussed fully and con-
vincingly by Goodspeed in " The Origin of Acts," Journal of Biblical Literature,
39(1920) :83-ioi and in New Solutions of New Testament Problems (Chicago,
J 927), 65-94. It is alluded to in Riddle, " The Logic of the Theory of Trans-
lation Greek," Journal of Biblical Literature, 5i(i932):i3-30. In a rejoinder

240 NOTES

("Principles for Testing the Translation Hypothesis in the Gospels," ibid., 53
(i934):i3~3o). Burrows writes as follows: "The Apocrypha and Pseudepig-
rapha likewise include works which are regarded by their modern editors as
having been composed originally in Hebrew or Aramaic during the period with
which we are concerned. According to the editors in Charles' edition the docu-
ments ' A * and ' B ' in i Baruch, the books of the Martyrdom of Isaiah, the
Assumption of Moses, and 2 Baruch, and the sources of 4 Ezra were all written
in Hebrew during the first century." It must insistently be demanded how the
judgment that certain Jewish books were written in Hebrew (if true) has any-
thing to do with the question of the use of Aramaic. The question under dis-
cussion was whether there was writing in Aramaic.

4. See Riddle, "The Aramaic Gospels and the Synoptic Problem," Journal
of Biblical Literature, 54(1935) :i27-i38. It must be. reiterated that the ex-
ponents of form- and social-history, many of them competent Semitists, fully
take into account the Semitic element in the Greek of the gospels. But they are
able to account for it by the fact that the pericopes of the gospel story had their
first currency while the gospel message was spoken. The true significance of the
statistics cited by Wellhausen, erroneously used by the exponents of the transla-
tion hypothesis, properly relates to this phenomenon. Wellhausen was one of
the precursors of Formgeschichte.

5. This is a phase of the growth of collections of Christian Scripture. See,
for example, Goodspeed, The Formation of the New Testament (Chicago, 1926),

33-41-

6. The full statement is worthy of quotation: "I did not, like the multitude,
take pleasure in those who spoke much, but in those who spoke the truth, nor
in those who related commandments belonging to others, but in those who re-
hearsed the commandments given by the Lord to faith, and proceeding to truth
itself. If, then, anyone who had attended the elders came, I asked minutely
after their sayings what Andrew or Peter said, or what was said by Philip, or
by Thomas, or by James, or by John, or by Matthew, or by any other of the
Lord's disciples; which things Aristion and the Elder John, the disciples of the
Lord, say. For I imagined that what was to be got from books was not so
profitable to me as what came from the living and abiding voice " (Papias,
Fragment I). Note that five sources of tradition are named before one of the
traditional gospel writers is named, and that the testimony of such contemporaries
as Aristion and the Elder John is rated as equal to the testimony of these.

7. For example, the martyr motif; cf. Riddle, " The Martyr Motif in the
Gospel of Mark," Journal of Religion, 4(1924) :379~4io.

8. This is discussed in an important article, Burch, "Tragic Action in the
Second Gospel," Journal of Religion, 11(1931) .-346-358.

9. The term is used in conscious dissent from the views of the exponents of
Formgeschichte. These scholars are led by the strict logic of their method to
insist that a gospel writer was merely a compiler, not an author. It is said, for
example, that " Luke " was an author in " Acts," but merely a compiler in the
Lucan gospel. The fact that the literary processes were essentially the same in

NOTES 241

both sections of Luke-Acts denies this point. Much more important, however,
is the fact that the effect secured by a gospel as a whole merits the gospel writer
the title of author.

10. Professor Cadbury deserves much credit for the consistency of his treat-
ment of Luke-Acts as a whole. See his Style and Literary Method of Lufa
(Cambridge, 1920) and The Making of LuI^e-Acts (New York, 1927). See
also Riddle, "The Occasion of Luke- Acts," Journal of Religion, 10(1930)1545-

562.

11. The student should consult Dibelius, " Stilkritisches zur Apostelge-
schichte," in Eucharisterion (Gottingen, 1923).

12. Compare also the discussion of sources in Harnack, The Acts of the
Apostles (New York, 1909), 162-202.

t

VII. THE NON-GOSPEL LITERATURE OF THE GOSPEL-MAKING

PERIOD

1. Goodspeed, New Solutions of New Testament Problems, " The Place of
Ephesians in the First Pauline Collection," The Meaning of Ephesians.

2. Burkitt, The Gospel History and Its Transmission (Edinburgh, 1925),
289-323, and Knox, Philemon Among the Letters of Paul (Chicago, 1935), sSff.

3. Knox, op. cit., 4off.

4. Lake, The Earlier Epistles of St. Paul (London, 1911), 325-370.

5. That Romans 16 was a letter of introduction of the deaconess Phoebe
from the church of Cenchreae to the church at Ephesus is a familiar theory.
See Deissmann, Paul (London, 1926). The theory has textual confirmation in
the place of the doxology of Romans 16:25-27 in the Chester Beatty Papyri; see
Sanders, A Third-Century Papyrus of the Epistles of Paul (Ann Arbor, 1935),
86.

6. "Josephus' Anticipation of a Domitianic Persecution," Case, Journal of
Biblical Literature, 44(1925) :io-2O.

7. Goodspeed, " First Clement Called Forth by Hebrews," Journal of Biblical
Literature, 30(1911) :i57-i6o, New Solutions of New Testament Problems
(Chicago, 1927), 110-115; Riddle, "Hebrews, i Clement, and the Persecution
of Domitian," Journal of Biblical Literature, 43(i924):329~348.

8. However, a recent defense of the idea is to be found in Wood (ed.),
Amicitiae Corolla (London, 1933), 253-264.

9. Riddle, the work cited in Note 7 above and in "The Occasion of Luke-
Acts," Journal of Religion 10(1930)1545-562.

10. Torrey, "The Authorship and Character of the So-Called 'Epistle to the
Hebrews,' " Journal of Biblical Literature, 3o(i9ii):i37-i56, especially pp. i45ff.

11. Reagan, The Preaching of Peter: the Beginnings of Christian Apologetic
(Chicago, 1923).

12. Riddle, The Martyrs, A Study in Social Control (Chicago, 1921), 1045.

13. Riddle, "From Apocalypse to Martyrology," Anglican Theological Re-
view, 9(1927)1260-280, especially pp. 27off.

242 NOTES

14. Lohmeyer, Die Offenbarung Johannis (Handbuch zum Neuen Testa.
ment) (Tubingen, 1926); Riddle, The Martyrs, 164-170.

15. Charles, The International Critical Commentary, Revelation (New York,
1920), 1:364-367.

1 6. Ibid., i .-Ixviii-lxxxvi.

17. Riddle, "From Apocalypse to Martyrology."

1 8. Riddle, "The Occasion of Luke- Acts."

PART THREE

AFTER THE GOSPELS
VIII. A PICTURE OF POPULAR CHRISTIANITY

1. Riddle, "The Later Books of the New Testament: A Point of View and a
Prospect," Journal oj Religion, I3(i933):50~7i.

2. Wilson, " The Career of the Prophet Hermas," Harvard Theological Re-
view, 20 (1927) 121-62.

3. Wilson summarizes the major attempts; op. cit., p. 21, Note.

4. It is regrettable that no translation of Hermas adequately exhibits its
popular, unliterary style. The best translation, from this point of view, is that
of Dibelius, in his edition of Hermas in the Lietzmann Handbuch zum Neuen
Testament, Die apostolischen Vdter (Tubingen, 1923).

5. Enslin, "A Second Century Pastor," Crozer Quarterly, 6(1929) :278-298,
especially p. 296.

6. Lake, Landmarks in the History oj Early Christianity, 84ff.

7. Riddle, " The Messages of the Shepherd of Hermas," Journal of Religion,
7(1927) -.561-577.

8. Riddle, " The Structural Units of the Gospel Tradition," Journal oj Biblical
Literature, 55( I 936):45~58.

9. See Lake, The Stewardship oj Faith (New York, 1915), 125, 168-188.

/ IX. " BE READY TO SUFFER AS A CHRISTIAN "
J
. i. Moffatt, Introduction, 318-344, especially pp. 323-327.

V 2. Canfield, The Early Persecutions of the Christians (New York, 1913).

3. Case, " Peter, Epistles of," Hastings' Dictionary oj the Apostolic Church
(New York, 1919), 2:201-209.
t , 4. Riddle, The Martyrs, 156163.
\, 5. Gebhardt, Acta Martyrium Selecta.

/ 6. Perdelwitz, Die Mysterienreligionen und das Problem des i Petrusbriejes
(Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten) (Giessen, 1911).
7. Streeter, The Primitive Church (New York, 1929), 121-141.

NOTES 243

X. THE TEACHER EXPOUNDS HIS CODE

1. The Didache (and all other writings of the Apostolic Fathers cited in this
study) may be conveniently read (in Greek and English) in Lake, The Apostolic
Fathers (Loeb Library). The most thorough discussion of its literary problems is
in Muilenburg, The Literary Relations of the Epistle of Barnabas and The Teach-
ing of the Twelve Apostles (Marburg, 1929).

2. Riddle, "The Non-Septuagint Element in the Vocabulary of Paul," Jour-
nal of Biblical Literature, 47(1928) :74~9O.

3. See the excellent discussion by Ropes in The International Critical Com-
mentary, James (New York, 1916), 10-16.

4. Goodspeed, The Story of the New Testament (Chicago, 1916), 100-105.

5. With reference to this general question, and particularly with reference to
the specific matter of wealth and poverty, the discussion of Dibelius, Der Brief
des Jacobzts (Meyer Commentary) (Gottingen, 1921), is now classic.

6. This work is made conveniently accessible by Easton in his article,
" Pseudo-Phocylides," Anglican Theological Review, 14(1932) 1222-228, from
which the extracts cited are drawn.

7. See Weidinger, Die Haustafeln (Tubingen, 1928).

8. Attention is again called to the definitive discussion of this problem by
Dibelius.

9. Moffatt, Introduction, 464.

XI. THE RISE OF SECTARIAN PROBLEMS

1. Goodspeed, The Story of the New Testament, 106-113.

2. The fullest study of the rise of the sects which takes modern findings into
account is in an unpublished doctoral dissertation by R. E. Swenson, The Rise of
the Sects as an Aspect of Religious Experience (University of Chicago Libraries,

1934)-

3. I owe this suggestion to my friend, Dr. Alfred E. Haefner, of Waverly
College, Waverly, Iowa.

4. Bultmann, " Stilanalyse des ersten Johannesbriefes," reprint from Festgabe
fiir Adolf Julicher (Tubingen, 1927), 138-158.

5- This suggestion, also, was made to me by Dr. Haefner.

6. If the full discussion of literary problems is desired, Lightfoot, The Apos-
tolic Fathers, Vol. i, Part 2 (London, 1885) is the classic source, pp. 222-414.

7. Riddle, The Martyrs, 60-75; Mofifatt, "Ignatius of Antioch A Study in
Personal Religion," Journal of Religion, 10(1930):! 69-1 86.

8. This is said even though the opposite is maintained in the article by Loh-
meyer, "Ueber Aufbau und Gliederung des ersten Johannesbriefes," Zeitschrift
fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 27 (1928) -.225-263.

9. Moffatt, Introduction, 589-593; Dibelius, " Johannesbriefe," Die Religion
in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Vol. 3 (Tiibingen, 1929), 346-350.

244 NOTES

XII. EPISCOPAL CORRESPONDENCE

1. This feature of Ignatius' Epistle to Polycarp appears in section VI, which
is obviously not appropriate as advice to a bishop, e.g., " Give heed to the bishop,
so that God may also give heed to you." Indeed, the entire section presents its
teaching in plurals. Sections IV and V are almost of the same color; they are
hardly relevant as teaching directed to the bishop.

2. Harris, Testimonies, 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1916, 1920).

3. There have been recent studies of Ignatius, however: Richardson, The
Christianity of Ignatius of Antioch (New York, 1935), Schilling, The Mysticism
of Ignatius of Antioch (Philadelphia, 1933).

4. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, Vol. i.

XIII. THE GROWTH OF CHURCH RULES

1. If it were necessary to emphasize the lack of uniformity in church orders,
the point would be sufficiently made clear by Streeter, The Apostolic Church
(New York, 1929).

2. P. N. Harrison, The Problem of the Pastoral Epistles (London, 1921), is
of the highest value as an exhibit of the statistical phenomena by which the
questions of the integrity and the authorship of the Pastorals are to be determined.
It is singularly weak, however, in that by limiting its objective to the proof that
there are genuine Pauline fragments as sources in the Pastorals, it fails to account
for what is obviously their major element, i.e., the pseudepigraphical "re-
mainder."

3. Such is the view offered by Michaelis, Die Gefangenschaft des Paulus in
Ephesus und dasltinerar des Timotheus (Giitersloh, 1925).

4. For full information see Harnack, Marcion, das Evangelium vom fremden
Gott (Leipzig, 1921).

5. The later fulminations of Tertullian indicate the furore occasioned by
Marcion's treatment of Scripture. To be sure, Tertullian's Against Marcion was
written later, and it is manifestly wrong to regard it as an objective treatment
from which Marcion's tenets may be objectively reconstructed. For example,
modern research seriously discounts the accusation that Marcion made a thor-
oughgoing "expurgation" of his Gospel and Apostle sections of his Christian
Scripture. And obviously Tertullian's statement that Marcion " rejected " the
Pastorals begs the question; Tertullian gives no evidence to prove it.

6. See, for example, Episde of Barnabas, 9:7-9.

7. Allegorical interpretation was developed by the Greeks. Not only does
Philo illustrate the currency of allegorical interpretation in Alexandria, but
Plutarch does the same thing, e.g., in his Of Isis and Osiris. This is excellently
discussed by Rist, Apuleius the Priest and Plutarch the Theologian (unpublished
dissertation, University of Chicago Libraries, 1934).

8. Harnack, "Marcion and the Marcionite Churches," Encyclopedia Britan-

NOTES 245

nica, nth ed., Vol. 17, 691-693; cf. History of Dogma (London, 1924), Vol.
i 270, "It is very probable that i Timothy 6:20 an addition to the Epistle
refers to Marcion's Antitheses." Harnack's judgment that the verse is an addi-
tion to the Epistle merely means that he was not willing to consider as late a
date as this would indicate for the Epistle as a whole. There is no objective evi-
dence mat it is a later interpolation.
9. Muilenburg, op. cit.

XIV. MATURING CHRISTIANITY

1. Cf. Goodspeed, New Solutions of New Testament Problems (Chicago,
1927), 29-49.

2. Goodspeed, Die aeltesten Apologeten (Gottingen, 1915).

3. Conveniently illustrated in James, The Apocryphal New Testament (Ox-
ford, 1924), 1-227.

4. Gebhardt, Acta Martyrium Selecta (Berlin, 1902).

5. This highly important matter is now receiving adequate attention in con-
temporary textual criticism. A significant contribution has been made by Clark
in his The Acts of the Apostles (Oxford, 1933). See also Sanders, "The Egyp-
tian Text of the Gospels and Acts," Harvard Theological Review 27(1933) 177-
98; Goodspeed, "The Letter of Jesus Christ and the Western Text," Anglican
Theological Review, 15(1933) :i05 114 and Riddle, "Textual Criticism as a
Historical Discipline," to appear in The Anglican Theological Review, 18 (1936).

6. "The Structural Units of the Gospel Tradition," The Journal of Biblical
Literature, 55(1936) :45~58.

7. It was not long after the time of the writing of the latest books of the
New Testament that the Muratorian Fragment and the writings of Irenaeus, the
earliest reflections of Catholic Christianity, appeared.

8. Traditions cited in Irenaeus, Adv. Haer., 3:1:1, 3:3:4; Tertullian, de
praescr. Haer., 36; Clement of Alexandria, Quis Div. Salv. xlii, Acts of John,
passim; Jerome, Comm. on Matthew, 20, 23; Augustine, Tract, in Joh., cxxiv, 2.

9. Op. cit., 17:3, 18:2, 3, 19:1, 2.

10. Riddle, " From Apocalypse to Martyrology," Anglican Theological Re-
view, 9(1927) :26o-28o; The Martyrs, A Study in Social Control (Chicago, 1931),

11. This is established by Dieterich, Nefyict usw., (Leipzig, 1893).

12. This generalization is indicated not only by the statement of Pliny's letter
to Trajan (to the effect that Christianity has spread to the rural districts) but
also by the early currency of Christianity in areas on the southern shores of the
Mediterranean.

13. The plural is used advisedly; there were several New Testaments, from
Marcion's to the highly inclusive New Testaments of Alexandria.

14. Polycarp's visit to Rome and his disagreements on certain points in dis-
cussion with Bishop Anicetus furnish an example.

INDEX

SUBJECTS AND PERSONS

Abraham, 30

Abrahams, Israel, 16

acta literature, 226, 228

" Acts," book of, 214

acts, apocryphal, 214

Acts of the Scillitan Martyrs, 147

Adam, 44

adaptability, Christianity's, 5

Aegean locale of Luke-Acts, 87

Aesklepius, 70, 71, 94

Africa, 51

agape, 149, 173

age, end of the, 178

Ahikar, 160

Alexandria, 12, 15, 23, 51, 119, 120,
202, 210, 213

Alexandrian literature, 124

allegorical interpretation, 212, 213

allegorical method, 30, 202, 210; use
by Jewish scholars, 210

Andronicus, n

anti-gentile polemic in Matthew, 102

anti-Gnostic polemic, 59

anti-Jewish polemic, 54, 59, 79, 80; in
Matthew, 101, 102

anti- Judaism, 93, 211

Antipas, 129

antinomians in the Pauline communi-
ties, 32

Antioch, 29, 183; bishop of, 176

Antiochene locale of Matthew, 87, 93

Antitheses, Marcion's, 209

Apocalypse, the, 124, 138; of Ezra, 119

Apocalypse of Peter, 178, 228

apocalyptic, 6, 7, 16, 219, 225, 227,

228; disuse of, 128; form, modifica-
tion of, 126; Jewish, 8, 9; literature,
221; messianism, 9, 17; section of
Didache, 157

apocalypticism, 26

apocrypha, 211

apocryphal Acts, 214

apocryphal gospels, 73, 82, 83, 99, 214,
217, 223, 227

apocryphal gospel tradition, 223

Apollos, n, 12, 13, 15, 32, 34

apologetic, Christian, 121; Christian,
beginnings of, 120

apologetic narratives, 124

apologies, 217, 229

Apology, Justin's, 121

apostles, n, 38, 41, 220; legendary
figures of, 221; ordinances of, 185,
186

Apphia, n, 60

Aquila, n

Aramaic, 40, 76; sources of the gospels,
76

Archippus, 60

Aristarchus, 59

Aristion, 150, 151

Ascension of Isaiah, 119

asceticism, 33

Asia, 25, 213; Christianity in, 194

Asia Minor, 215

Asian churches, 171, 181, 183, 184

Asian locale of the Fourth Gospel, 87

Assumption of Moses, 219

Athens, 26

Attis, 94

248 INDEX

baptism, 6, 172; by proxy, 39

baptismal address, 149

Barnabas, n, 12, 13, 29, 202, 212, 227,

228; Epistle of, 121, 210, 211
beginnings of Christianity, 1-5
behavior, peculiar, 3; spiritistic, 3
Bezae, Codex, 74
binders of the gospel pericopes, 68
birth stories, 82
bishop, 174, 205
Bithynia, 145
brothers of Jesus, 35
Burton, Ernest DeWitt, 78
Burton-Goodspeed theory, 78
Bultmann, Rudolf, 70, 98

Caesarean imprisonment theory, 51

Cain, 178

canonical writings, 217, 218

Catholic Christianity, 222, 225

Catholic church, 166

Cephas, 8, 13, 15, 19, 28, 29, 32, 34,

35. 38

charismata, 151

Charles, R. H., 16

chiliasm, 227

Christian, 144; apologetic, 120; Scrip-
ture, 220, 230

Christianity, 166; a disintegrating force,
82; a salvation cult, 107; in the
Greek world, no; Catholic, 222,
225; Eastern, 231; historical study
of, 77; in Alexandria, 120; institu-
tional equipment of, 113; intellectual
basis of, 203; intellectualization of,
120; Latin, 231; Western, 231

Church, the, 113, 114, 139, 140

church, the, Catholic, 160; the, in the
Fourth Gospel, 109; the, in the gos-
pel sources, 80; the, membership in,
7; the, Paul's conception of, 114

church rules, growth of, 195-216

churches, 6

Cilicia, 21

circumcision, 28, 31, 54

Clement of Alexandria, 226-30
Clement of Rome, 137, 139, 141
Clement, First, 88, 118, 119, 125, 126,

129, 138, 142, 166, 184, 187; First,

and Hebrews, 123; First, purpose of,

123; Second, 222, 227
Codex Bezae, 74

collection of gospel pericopes, 73, 83
collector of Paul's letters, 117, 118
Colossae, 59, 60, 61
Colossians, 12; letter to the, 16, 51,

54-60, 116; quasi-Gnosticism in, 51
commandments, 169
communication, 172, 174, 236; between

churches, 181

communities, Hellenistic, 4; Pauline, 14
Community, the New, 165
competition of Christianity with rivals,

70, 71
confession, 6

confessor-bishop, 181, 182
consolidation, Christianity's, 162
control, writing to effect, 124
Corinth, 42; church at, 32, 118
Corinthian correspondence, 55, 117
Corinthians, the, 32
cosmic elements, 30
courts, 32

creed, 187; growth of, 177
cryptogram, 127
cult interests in the Fourth Gospel, 109,

no
cult interests in the gospel sources, 78,

82

cult of the Emperor, 127, 128, 145
cult practices, 7, 35, 94; in gospel

sources, 80

cult stories, Graeco-Roman, 9
culture, gentile, 16
Cynic-Stoic diatribe, 157

Damascus, 12, 15
deacons, 205

death of Jesus, emphasis upon in the
primitive preaching, 9

INDEX

249

death, punishment after, 227
Defender, 172
demiurge, 201
demonicum, ad, 160
descensus, 116, 152, 223
Dialogue with Trypho, 121
diatribe, 157. 160; style, 162
Dibelius, Martin, 16, 70, 179
Didactic, the, 142, 143, 154, 155, 156,

157, 161, 162, 213, 219, 228
dietary customs, 49
diocese, 1 66
Dionysus, 94
Diotrephes, 167, 218
discipline, 137, 170, 172, 177, 214,

221

dispersion Jew, Paul a, 17
dispersion Judaism, 16
division, 175
docetists, 171, 188, 190
Domitian, 52, 145; persecution of, 88,

119, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129, 144,

150
Domitianic persecution, literature of,

123

dualism, 201
dualistic philosophies, 203

Eastern Christianity, 231
ecclesiastical organization, 153
economic ties, effect of, 139
ecstatic behavior, 117, 187
ecstatic experience, 50
ecstatic speaking, 190
Elder John, 179
Eleusinian mystery, 7
Emperor, cult of the, 127, 128, 145
end of the age, 26, 27
Enoch, book of, 219
environment, influence of, 2
Epaphras, 12
Epaphroditus, 53
Ephesian church, 165
Ephesian imprisonment theory, 51, 60,
197

Ephesians, the, 109, 181; Epistle to the,

51, 52, 113-17. 166, 192
Ephesus, 12, 15, 60
epistle, 194

Epistle of the Apostles, 219
Epistle of Barnabas, 121, 210, 211
Epistles of Paul, collection of, 113
eschatology, 93
ethic, sources of Paul's, 41
ethical teaching in Matthew, 103
Eucharist, 69, 78, 79, 175
Europe, Christianity in, 25
expansion, Christianity's, 134
Ezra, Fourth, 123, 136, 138

factions, the, in Corinth, 32

Faithful Sayings, the, 213

false prophets, 170

family problems, 190

fixation of form of gospel stories, 73

Formgeschichte, 68

Fourth Gospel, the, 79, 93, 99, 108-11,

113, 115, 121, 165, 177, 184, 210,

221, 226; date of, 88, 89
framework of the gospel story, 68

Gaius, 1 66, 167, 168, 169

Galatia, 28

Galatians, the, 31; letter to the, 28-32

gentile Christianity, 22, 47

gentile interests in Matthew, 103, 104

gentiles, 113

glossolalia, 20, 37, 38

Gnostic systems, 59

Gnostic teachers, 203

Gnosticism, 55, 58

Goodspeed, Edgar J., 52, 53, 60, 61, 78,
180, 212

gospel, 156, 176; the, a creation of
Hellenistic communities, 77, 98; the
fourfold, 97; the, literary forms of,
67; materials, 63-74; pericopes, 74,
141, 222; pericopes, use in i Clem-
ent, 125; sources, 74-84, 217; tradi-
tions, 48, 155, 213

250

INDEX

Gospel, the, according to the Hebrews,
226

gospels, the, 87-111, 161, 162, 192,
217; the, didactic materials of, 71;
the, ethical teachings of, 71; local,
97; new adaptations, 96, 97; the,
non-literary quality of, 67; the,
paraenetic elements in, 155

government, the civil, 48, 49

Graeco-Roman culture, 229

Graeco-Roman literature, 56

Grapte, 140

Greece, 51

Greek, 90; drama, 126, 127; language,
n, 16

Greek-speaking synagogues, 90

Hagar, 30

hagiography, 13

Harnack, Adolf, 209

Harris, Rendel, 186

Harrison, P. N., 198

Haustafel, 56, 58, 150, 155, 182, 183

Hebrew gospel sources, "76

Hebrew language, 98

Hebrews and i Clement, 123

Hebrews, Epistle to the, 88, 119-23,
125, 126, 129, 142, 148, 150, 158,
210; Epistle, literary quality of, 122;
Epistle, writer of, 226; Gospel ac-
cording to the, 226

Hellenism, 55

Hellenistic communities, 88, 89, 90

Hellenistic conceptions, 227

Hellenistic culture, 23, 229

Hellenistic elements in the Fourth Gos-
pel, no

Hellenistic elements in Matthew, 102

Hellenistic interests in gospel sources,
82

Hellenistic Jew, Paul a, 22

Hellenistic Jewish literature, 56, 126

Hellenistic Judaism, 160

Hellenistic life, 35

Hellenistic literary forms, 126

Hellenistic qualities in Revelation, 126

Hellenistic religions, 55

Hellenistic world, 2, 6, 56

Hellenists, 3

Hellenized culture, 222

Herakles, 94

heresies, rise of the, 164-79

heresy, 190

heretical gospels, 73

Herford, R. T., 16

Hermas, 88, 134, 138, 207; Shepherd

of, 88, 128, 131-43
hero cults, 70, 82
Herod Antipas, 78
heterodox, 175
Hippolytus, 226
historical Jesus, 77
Holtzmann, H. J., 52
Holy Spirit, the, 178
homiletic source in i John, 173
homily, 118, 119, 158; "Hebrews" a,

121, 124

house-churches, 12
household duties, table of, 56, 58, 150,

155, 182, 183

Ignatius of Antioch, 173, 174, 180,
191, 194, 199, 204

Ignatius, collection of letters of, 182;
letters of, 173-79; psychic abnor-
mality of, 177, 189

Ignatius and Polycarp, correspondence
of, 180-94

Illyricum, 50

imperative, use of in James, 162

individualism, 126

infancy stories, 82

institutional interests, 79

institutionalism, 162

institutionalized religion, 190

intellectual status, 207

intellectualism, 230

intercommunication, 191

Isocrates, 160

Israel, commonwealth of, 116

INDEX

251

James (of Jerusalem), 12, 13, 15, 28,

29, 161

James (ben Zebedee), 12
James, Epistle of, 154-63. 182, 207,

228; Epistle of, pseudonymous, 162,

163; Epistle of, authorship, 160-62;

Epistle of, Greek of, 161
Jerusalem, 28, 29, 30, 42, 50, 51, 61,

78; church, 16; source, 78
Jesus Christ, 172-76
Jesus, followers of, i; life of, 64;

stories of, i, 2, 3; teaching of, 64
Jesus-Justus, 59
Jewish apocalypses, 176
Jewish apocalyptic, 118, 219
Jewish believers, 113
Jewish-Christians, 31
Jewish communities, 80, 82
Jewish-Greek literature, 159, 160
Jewish leaders in " Christianity," 71
Jewish legalism, 102
Jewish propaganda, 31
Jewish Scripture, 64, 91, 153, 185, 201,

202, 211, 219

Jewish sources of Revelation, 127
Jewish Wisdom literature, 159
Jews, i, 113, 208; distinction from,

152; Palestinian, 3, n
Johannine letters, 166-73, 1 89, 226;

authorship of, 177-79
"Johannine writings," 179
John (ben Zebedee), 12, 13, 28, 220;

legendary tales of, 226
John as forerunner, 105
John the Baptist sect, 165
John, First, 166-73; homiletic source

in, 173; non-epistolary form of, 166,

J 72, 173; Second, 166, 168-70, 175;

Third, 166, 167, 168
Josephus, 119

Josephus, Antiquities, 123, 129
Judaism, 30, 31, 57, 59, 80, 101, 103,

106, 160, 176, 211, 229; attitude

towards, in the Fourth Gospel, 108;

Christianity against, 121; legalistic,

1 6; relation of to Christianity, 229;

social basis of, 4
Jude, 223, 226, 228; Epistle of, 218,

219, 220, 227
Judea, 42; churches of, 16
Junias, n
Justin Martyr, 199, 226; Apology, 229;

Dialogue with Trypho, 229

Kyria, 168; the elect, 166

"L," 66, 67

Laodiceans, Epistle to the, 59

Latin Christianity, 231

Law, the, 30, 43; the, amenability to,

44. 45

life after death, 2

Lightfoot, Joseph Barber, 53

logic of the Aramaic translation the-
ory, 77

Lohmeyer, Ernst, 54, 55, 58

Lord's Prayer, the, 156

Lord's Supper, 6, 32, 35, 36

Luke, 65

Luke-Acts, n, 12, 14, 15, 18, 51,
?o, 74. 75, 78, 88, 93, 99, 105-8,
112, 115, 121, 123, 125, 129, 141,
165, 174, 184, 192, 198, 202, 207;
Acts section of, n; common interests
of two volumes, 105; ethical mate-
rials of, 108; gospel section of, n,
75, 202; Passion source of, 76; pro-
cesses of composition same in two
volumes, 105; purpose same in two
volumes, 105, 106; the story of
Christianity's expansion, 107

Maccabees, Fourth, 126; Second, 126
Macedonia, 51
Magnesians, 181

Marcion, 199, 200-3, 208, 212, 215
Marcionite editor, 117
Marcionite teaching, 208, 209
Mark, 59, 99; Gospel according to,
65. 75. 77. 98, 99. 104, 141

252

INDEX

Mark (gospel), composition of, 100;
date of, 88; priority of, 65; re-
ligious life in, 100, 101; use by
later evangelists, 99

marriage, Paul's advice about, 34;
Paul's conception of, 43-45

martyrdom, 181

Martyrdom of Polycarp, the, 226

martyrologies, 217

martyrology, the, 124, 227

martyrs, 126; cult of the, 226

Matthean document, 78, 79; anti-
Jewish polemic in, 79, 81

Matthean source, 66

Matthew, 76; Gospel according to, 65,
75, 80, 83, 98, 99, 101-5, 109, 113,

156, 184, 192, 213, 221

Matthew (gospel), Hellenistic elements
in, 102; religious life in, 101, 102,
103

maturing Christianity, 217, 231

Mediterranean, 50, 229; world,
224

Messiah, Jesus as, 69

messianism, 69

migrants, 4

miraculous conception, 105

Mithra, 94 /

money, 190, 193, 194, 206, 207

Montanism, 224

Moore, George Foote, 16

moral code, 32, 71, 155, 157, 158;
Jewish, 8

moral patterns, 26, 27, 162

Moses, 44

multiple source hypothesis, 76

multiple source theories, 66, 67

Muratorian fragment, 134, 142

mysteries, 148

mystery cult, initiate of, 149

mystery cults, 7>_44> 55, 7> 82; ter-
minology of, in Colossians, 58

Neapolis, 181

Nero, "persecution" of, 144, 145

New Community, 165; discourse on

1 08; guidance of, 113
New Law, Christianity as the, 101
New Testament, 202
New Testaments, 230
Nicolaitans, 165
Nicolem, ad, 160
non-canonical sayings, 74
non-gospel literature, 97, 98, 112-30
non-Jews, evangelization of, 21, 28, 29;

relation of Jews and, 115
non-Marcan gospel materials, 81
non-Pauline Christianity, 51, 61-64,

161, 199
non-Pauline leaders, 48, 54

Old Testament, 230

Onesimus, 60, 61

oral tradition, 50, 65; in the Pauline

communities, 91
oral transmission of gospel pericopes,

73

Oriental religions in the West, 55

Origen, 161, 230; Exhortation to Mar-
tyrdom., 124

orthodoxy, 169, 170, 214

Osiris, 94

paedagogue, 30

Palestine, 2, 113; Hellenistic cities of, 2
Palestinian Christianity, 90, 91
Palestinian communities, 70, 89, 92,

224

Papias, 98, 130
papyri, 60, 74, 167
Paraclete, 107, no, 178
paraenesis, 48, 57, 155, 158, 160, 162,

182

Passion sources, 66; in Luke-Acts, 76
Passion Story, 66, 68, 74, 78; in the

Fourth Gospel, in
Passover, 79
Pastoral Epistles, 192, 193, 194, 195-

216, 226; situation of, 197
Paul, u, 12, 14-24, 53, 54, 55, 60,

INDEX

253

61, 70, 82, 125, 147, 165, 175,
180, 184, 189, 191, 197, 198, 201,
211, 220, 226, 227, 228; activity of,
as a persecutor, 15, 18, 39; alleged
development of thought, 57; " con-
version " of, 19; death of, 62; ethical
teaching of, 56, 57; in Rome, 105;
Jewish bias of, 20; Jewishness of,
54; later life of, 61; letters of, 25-

62, 202; martyrdom of, 62, 214;
religious experience of, 18, 19, 20;
spiritism of, 56

Paul's letters, collector of, 181; publi-
cation of, 180; use in i Clement, 125

Paul's mysticism, 114

Pauline Christianity, 51, 90, 151; later
development of, 113

Pauline churches, 62

Pauline communities, 92, 98, 224

Pauline corpus, 88, 141, 166, 184, 192,
220

Pauline type of religious experience,
148, 150

"Paulinism," 93

Perean document, 81

perfectionists, 172

Pergameme church, 129

pericopes, 68, 74; non-gospel, 184;
separate, 187

persecution, 144, 190; danger of, 124;
legal basis of, 144; literature, 124;
of Domitian, 150; of Nero, 123;
sayings in gospel sources, 81

Peter, 2, n, 12, 16, 29, 70, 125, 184,
219, 227, 228; Apocalypse of, 128;
denial of, 79; First Epistle of, 123,
144-53, 166, 191, 192, 196, 207,
220; First Epistle of, writer of, 179;
Second Epistle of,, 219-24, 227

Petrine interest, 80

Pharisaic standards, 16

Philadelphia^, 181, 183

Philemon, n, 60; Epistle to, 51, 59,
60-61

Philip, 12

Philippi, 181; church of, 181, 191; peo-
ple of, 53, 190

Philippians, Epistle to the, 51, 53, 54

Philippians (epistle), composite, 53, 54,
192; data of persecution in, 54

Philo, 210

Pilate, 78

Pius, 142

pleroma, 59

Pliny, 145, 146

Pliny-Trajan correspondence, 145, 146,

151

polemic in gospel stories, 70
polemical stories in Mark, 83
political interests in gospel sources, 78
Polycarp, 53, 173, 180, 182, 189, 190,

191, 192, 193, 194, 196, 199, 204,

226; Epistle of, 53, 181, 189-94,

207, 211
Pontus, 200

popular Christianity, 134-43
popular texts, 223
poverty, wealth and, 162
preachers, early Christian, n, 12, 13
"Preaching of Peter," the, 120
preaching, early Christian, 74; the

primitive, 6-13
pre-Pauline " Christianity," 61
Prisca, n
prison letters, 51
prophesying, 37, 38
prophets, 220; false, 170
Proto-Luke, 67; reconstruction of, 78;

theory, 99

Pseudo-Phocylides, 158, 159, 160
Pseudo-Isocrates, 160
pseudonymity, 126, 150, 198, 228

" Q," 65, 66, 76; reconstructions of, 78

racial inclusiveness of Christianity, 4
reconstruction of gospel sources, 76
religious customs, Jewish, 8
religious life in Pauline communities,
90

254

INDEX

religious work, specialization of, 204
resurrection appearances, 38
Revelation of John, 88, 119, 126-29,

138, 165, 179, 180
Revelation (John), Jewish sources of,

127; letter group of, 126; literary

quality of, 142
rhetorical questions, 162
ritual, 162

Roman Christianity, 118
Roman church, 118, 123, 150, 166,

i 80, 200

Roman church order, 125
Roman locale of Mark, 87, 93, 94
Roman religion, 7
Romans, 181; letter to the, 42-51, 58,

117
Rome, 12, 15, 23, 42, 51, 141, 173,

1 80, 197, 200, 213, 215; church of,

118, 123, 150, 166, 180, 200

sacraments, 180

salvation cult, Christianity a, 116

salvation cults, 10

sanction, 157

Sarah, 30

savior-gods, 6, 9, 69

Sayings, the Faithful, 213

Scillitan Martyrs, Acts of the, 147

Scripture, 79, 157, 176, 178, 208, 219,
220; allusions, 190; Christian, 220,
221; Jewish, 6, 7, 8, n, 16, 19,
42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 125, 201,
230; Paul's interpretation of, 29, 30;
use of in stories of Jesus, 95, 96

sect, John the Baptist, 165

sectarian problems, 187

sectaries, 173, 179, 218

sections of the gospel story, 68

sects, rise of the, 16479

self -consciousness, Christianity's, 134

Semitic numerals, 127

Septuagint, the, ir, 120, 121, 125,
157, 210

Serapis cult, 7

sexual immorality, 32

Shepherd of Hennas, 128, 131-43

Silvanus, n, 26

Sinai, Mount, 30

Sinope, 200

slave, 60

slaves, Christian, 183, 184

Smyrna, 53, 173, 180, 181, 189

Smyrneans, 181, 183

social situation of i John, 171

social situation of Johannine letters,
170

Spain, 23, 51

spirit, 178

spirit life, 44, 58

spiritism, 20, 26, 27, 31, 32, 42, 64,
71, 221

spiritistic behavior, 33, 36, 92, 98, 224

spirits, 170

state, attitude towards the, 118; atti-
tude towards, in Luke-Acts, 106,
107; Christianity's relation to, 230;
conflict with, 134, 228; integration
of Christianity in, 104; loyalty to,
149; opposition of, 104; recognition
of Christianity by, 121; relation of
early Christians to, 123; Christianity's
triumph over, 230, 231

Stephen, 17

Stoic morality, 56, 158

Stoic teachers, 158

Stoicism, 57

Streeter, Canon B. H., 78, 150, 151

synagogues, 91

syncretism, 55

Syria, 21, 183, 189, 191

table of household duties, 56, 116, 151
teacher, the church as, 189
teachers, Christian, 154, 160, 162
teaching, 162; of Jesus, 48, 49, 50;

of Jesus, growth of traditions of,

72

Temple, the, 120
Tertullian, 128, 226

INDEX

255

testimonies, books of, 186
Thessalonica, 26, 32; people of, 25,

27
Timothy, ii, 26

Titus, ii

Tobit, 1 60

Torah, 16, 17. i9> 22, 28, 29, 30, 31,

47; freedom from the, 91
Trajan, 141* *46
Trallians, 181

translation (of gospels) theory, 76, 77
travelers, 4
Troas, 181

Twelve, the, 12, 13, 38
Two Source Hypothesis, 65, 76
" Two Ways " document, 213

unity, 175, 179; of the church, 114;
plea for, in the Fourth Gospel, 109;
prayer for, 165

Valens, 190, 191, 196
varieties of religious experience, 164
virgin birth, 105

vocabulary of the Fourth Gospel and
the Johannine Epistles, 178

wealth, attitude towards, 206; and pov :
erty, 162

Weidinger, Karl, 55, 57

Western Christianity, 231

"Western" Text, 223, 227

widows, 190, 196, 204, 205

Wisdom, book of, 160

Wisdom literature, 160

women, among early Christian lead-
ers, 12; Paul's attitude towards, 35,
36

wonder stories, 83

world-view, Paul's, 17

writer of Luke-Acts, 76

SOURCES

Job 1:21 194

Matthew 6:7 102; 6:32 102;
10:17 ff. 81; 10:34-39 82; 13

75; 20:1-16 102; 21:28-32
102; 21:33-44 102; 21:43
104; 22:1-14 102; 23:3 103;
2 4 755 28:15 I02

Mark 4 74, 83; 7:1-23 49; 7:19

^-49, 50; 13 75; 13=9-13 81

Luke 8:3 83; 12:1 ff. 81; 12:51

82; 12:53 82; 14:26 f. 82;
2175

John 3:11 108; 8:17 108; 10:34
108; 14:17 108; 18:31 108

Acts 16:11-40 54

Romans 6:2ff. 55; 9-11 46, 47,
48, 60; 12 38, 48; 14:14 49;
16 ii, 117, 164

First Corinthians 1:26 33; 5:9 32;
6 :n 335 8:10 35; 9:24-27
355 10:20-22 35; 11:2 36;
12-14 48; I5 : 3 _ 5 _8

Second Corinthians 1-9 40; 7:8
40; 10-13 4> 4 1 ; 11^22-33
41; 12:1-18 41; 12:2 28

Galatians 2:1 28

Ephesians 4:8-10 116

Philippians 1:7 53; 1:15-18 54;
2:5-10 54; 2:23 53; 3:1
53; 3:2 53; 3:2 ff. 54; 3:4 ff.
54; 4:4 53

Colossians 3:18-4:1 56

First Thessalonians 1:13 8

Second Thessalonians 2:1 27, 28

First Timothy 1:7-9 2 8; 2:5
208; 3:16 214; 4:3 208; 6:13-
16 214; 6:15 f. 209; 6:20
209

Second Timothy 2:8 214; 2:18
208; 3:6 208; 3:16 209

Titus 1:10 208; 1:14 208; 3:9
208

James 2:8 157; 2:11 157; 2:23
157; 3:i i57; 3:12 157; 4:5

2 5 6

INDEX

157; 4:6157; 4:10 157; 5:11

157; 5:12 157, 160; 5:17

157

First Peter 4:7-11 151

Second Peter 1:15 219; 1:17 221;
1:18 220; 1:20 220; 2:2
221; 2:4 ff. 221, 223; 2:11
221; 3:1 220; 3:2 220; 3:4
221; 3:7-13 221; 3:8 227;

3:15 220; 3:16 220

First John 2:19 170; 4:11 170
Epistle of Barnabas 2:6 213
First Clement 48:8 174
Second Clement 5, n, 12 223
The Didache n 142, 143; 11:1, 2

157; 11:3-12 156; 11:10-12

157

Shepherd of Hermas, Vision 2:4:3

140; Similitude i 140
Ignatius

Ephesians 5:2 184; 5:3 173,
174, 184; 7:1 174; 9:1 174;
12:2 184; 13:1 183; 19:1
187; 19:2 188; 20:1 187;
20:2 174, 187; 22:2 183
Magnesians 4 174; 4:1 174;

7:1 186; 7:1, 2 175; 7=2-
183, 184; 8-10 176, 1 86; 9^.
187; 13 185
Philadelphians 3:13 174; 3:2--

175; 3'-4 i74> 1755 5~i8 5 ,

186; 6:1 176, 186; 7 ify.

7:1 184; 8:2 185; 9 186

Polycarp 4:2 1 83 ; 4 -.3 1 83

Romans 7:3 184; 10 182; 10-2

182

Smyrneans i 177; 1-2 187; i

175; 3 175; 5 175; 5=1 -
186; 6:2-7:1 175; 6:2-8
174; 7:2 1 86; 8 176

Trallians 2:2 187; 3:1 189; 5

187; 7:1 185; 7=2 174,
175; 9 177> 187; 10 175

Justin, Dialogue with Trypho 71-73

230

Martyrdom of Polycarp 12:1 190;

12:3 190; 16:2 190, 228
Epistle of Polycarp 3:2 53, 192; 4:1

193; 11:3 192; 13 182
Pseudo-Justin, Hortatory Address 13

230

V

SS58-MB

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Early Christian life

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i\Y 1 - ; "

" 2 ?; 1954

o 19 DR WlLLOUGHBY
1AR 21 19559EADJN6 ROOM

Nov 6 '61 !.

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^ 11 '61